Cute is What we Aim For
by endingunplanned
Summary: AU: Taylor and Gabriella are roomates at Stanford. Taylor always falls for the wrong guys and gets her heart broken. What happens when she stumbles upon Chad, Gabriella's boyfriends roomate? Will things start to look up? Troyella underlining.
1. And don't forget tocheck the obvious

It was one of those days. Those days when you just want to get home. Those days when the stairs to the door are just a little too steep, a little to rickety, and there are just a little too many. Those days when the key just wont turn fast enough. As Taylor finally dragged her feet through the threshold of her apartment, it had been one of those days and more. She dropped her gym bag at the door, not able to bring herself to move the ten feet it took to put it in the closet. Too much was involved in that. She would have to move her dead, shaky legs and twist that handle with her sore, achy wrist. The though was enough to make her want to collapse. It had been a rough day at practice, she felt her knees crack and her joints pop with every step she took up those stairs; and if she never took another step again, she would be ok. She needed to shower, she was coated in sweat and chalk and smelt like dirty gym mats. She took a deep breath before turning her head and looking towards the bathroom, it was steaming. She could see a hot bath already ready and she felt her eyes fill up with tears. Stupid hormones, stupid period. She usually wasn't this emotional. But she did have the ultimate best friend. She looked slowly around the rest of the room, an electronic foot massager was already set up with a small stack of movies and a tall glass of water. That was it, the tears started to pour. She wiped them quickly away just as Gabriella glided into the room.

"Oh! Hey Tay, I didn't hear you come in! There is already a--"

"Ya I know, I saw it all, you're the best." Even her speech seemed strained and forced.

"Just thought that when it was late it must have been a rough one. I'll be waiting, I've got some seriously good musicals laid out."

Taylor could have danced to the bath she was so excited about it. That is, if dancing wouldn't have totally tipped her over the edge and killed her. She undressed quickly and laid her sore body in the steaming water. She was a gymnast. Had been a damn good one back in the day. It had got her a full ride to Stanford, so the coaches must have all seen something in her, but lately she just wasn't hitting her jumps right, wasn't sticking the landing, something was missing. So naturally, she strove for perfection, which meant extra practice, extra runs, extra everything. She tried to use the loufa to massage out every sore muscle, but it just wasn't doing the trick, she slid down and let herself just lay there.

She had met Gabriella in her freshman bio class. They had been partners and instantly cliqued. They moved into this ghetto apartment the next semester and nothing had come between them since. Gabriella was doing pre med and Taylor was studying to become a psychologist. They shared everything. Gabriella knew the ins and outs of the team drama, and Taylor knew everything about Gabriella's relationship with Troy, her newest fling. Although, Taylor had a feeling this one was going to become pretty serious real fast for Gabs. He was a junior at San Jose state, their starting point guard, and from the way Gabriella described him, he was good. Although, Gabriella was not the best at describing athletics.

She sat in that tub until the water became almost tepid and cool, she knew Gabby was waiting for her, so she tentatively stepped out onto the slippery tile and wrapped a towel around herself. Drying her long dark hair off in a towel before hanging it back up. She thought he heard someone knocking at the door. She waited again, thinking Gabriella would get it. When she didn't, she went out to explore. Maybe Gabs had locked herself out…again. Thinking that, she walked faster over to their door, the place they lived in was sketch enough, especially for a girl like Gabby. The last thing she needed was to read in the paper the next day how an innocent girl was attacked and raped and killed tall because her roomate didn't open the door on time. This all had her striding as quickly as her legs would let her (which was not that fast). She threw the door open, and didn't see Gabriella, but the pizza guy.

He was tall, dark, and handsome. Around six foot, wearing his silly pizza hut outfit, and a hat. Under his hat you could tell he had seriously big curly hair, but it was tied back. Taylor's first impression was that she thought he was cute, but found it weird that he was just staring at her with an open mouthed, dumbfounded expression. Gosh, hadn't he ever seen a girl before. A girl…in a towel. She gasped and looked down at herself. She was in a towel. In front of the pizza guy. A very attractive pizza guy. There were those fucking tears again. She bit her lip to keep them from coming. Could this night get any worse. Her face burned with embarrasment. She wanted to shut the door and run into her bed room but she knew that would just be worse. She realized he hadn't said anything, so she decided she might as well get on with her public humiliation. Her words came out jumbled.

"Excuse me, I was umm…not expecting umm…"

Once he could clearly see how embarrassing and not on purpose this was for Taylor, he seemed to recover quickly and give her a crooked, apologetic smile. "It's cool, seriously." He was trying to make it less awkward, and Taylor noted that he was trying so, so, so hard not to stare at her chest. An effort that deserved a standing ovation, considering they were practically winking at him.

Taylor took a deep steadying breathe and met the guys dark, mysterious eyes. "How much do I owe you?"

"Sixteen fifty."

Taylor glanced around awkwardly, was the money on the counter? Psh, no. This was embarrassment hell. She was supposed to suffer until she was blushing so bad her face melted off. At this rate, it wouldn't take long. She was cursing Gabriella for being deaf and not hearing the door and this conversation. She was also cursing Gabriella for not putting the money out.

"Hey Gabs! Pizza!" She looked back awkwardly at the pizza boy. He was just standing there politely, trying not to stare. His eyes had now been averted to the ground. If it was even possible, she blushed more. It would be so much easier to get through this if the guy was a jerk but he was being a gentleman! She felt like she had to say something, however, she didn't really think through her words so they came out In a babble. "I'm so sorry, I usually don't answer the door in my towel, this is really embarrassing, I thought you were my roommate…but you obviously aren't…and she is taking a really long time with the money…GABRIELLA!"

He laughed, a deep throaty laugh that was very attractive. Genuine, content, with an underlining of confidence, edging on arrogance, but not quite. Kind of like that was his old self that he had long grown out of. She guessed he had been the cocky popular guy in high school. She wondered how he would feel about them knowing he was a pizza delivery boy. She wondered how far out of high school he was anyway. He looked about her age, so maybe it wouldn't be a big deal. She then wondered if all of this was right, her sociology professor would be proud. She then noted grimly that they just didn't make them like that at Stanford. "It's fine, seriously don't worry about it. You can have the pizza, it's on me."

Ugh, great, it was basically like he was paying for the show she was giving him. Sure, sure, let me prounce around in my towel, that'll be two pizza's. "Don't be ridiculous, I'll get the money." She held the door open and let him in before turning, clutching her towel so it stayed up, and marching across the room to her gym bag to get her wallet. She then realized she had just left the door open and turned her back on the pizza guy, a complete stranger while she was basically naked…what was she on tonight? She quickly took out the money and handed him some bills that she didn't quite look at. "Here, keep the change."

He counted it quickly, thanked her, gave her a gorgeous smile, and turned to leave just as Ms. Perfect Timing, Gabriella, walked into the room. She caught site of the guy just before he closed the door behind him, then her gaze fell on Taylor.

"Did you…answer the door…naked?" Her voice took on a horrified tone. Gabriella was about as virgin as they came. She had made out with a few boys, gone to third base once only to tell Taylor the horror stories of the situation later, but never let a boy do it to her, as she so readily described. However, Gabriella, being the nerd, had an underlining of evil. She was sneaky and devilish, though on the surface you wouldn't know it. Also, from being around all the inexperienced Academic Decathlon guys in high school, her mind had been surgically removed and placed in a gutter.

Taylor, on the other hand, was most definitely not a virgin. She had sex with a few guys. She knew the ins and outs of the bedroom. She kind of had to have sex, because Taylor always fell for the bad boy. The guy that she inevitably knew would break her heart. She was regularly used and abused, the default tortured soul. The girl could solve any problem you through at her, but she couldn't figure out what she was doing wrong with the guys. Gabriella tried to tell her He doesn't seem like boyfriend material, or, I think he is only after one thing, Taylor. Every time she didn't listen, every time Gabriella was right.

"Yes Gabriella, I showed him my boobs and got a discount too."

Gabriella giggled, "Well then I hope you know we got jipped. Those girls are

Easily worth two large pizza's. I hope you didn't tip."

And with that they fell into their usual banter, discussing the nights events and developments. Talking all through the night and forgetting about their movies as usual.

* * *

"So what's the plan for tonight?' Cody, Taylor's latest boyfriend, pulled Taylor into his lap and kissed her neck. He was a on the football team, they gymnastics team had hung out with them a few weeks back and, well, that night, and the next morning, Taylor and him "hit it" off. He was cocky, rude, and good in bed. The usual for Taylor. She suppressed a giggle, "I don't know, Cody, I'm tired, and really sore from practice this morning, let's just hang out today ok?" His hands made their way down her slim back and onto her ass, "I have something else that would make you sore, if you want to try that." She fought the urge to roll her eyes, "Ugh, not tonight," she pulled away from him and stood up, he was being extra pushy tonight. She noted something was off about him, "Let's just order some take out a watch a movie, please." He was getting ready to enter pout mode, something she really wanted to avoid, "What ever kind of food you want," she offered.

"Pizza," he said shortly.

It seemed like that was all she ate in college. She had heard the rumors that ramen would become her daily diet, although she rejected that one, she couldn't avoid pizza at least twice a week.

"You know, I had a hard practice this morning too, if you even care." He said condescendingly.

"I care, Cody, you know that." she searched around the kitchen for the phone, "I was just telling you I'm not in the mood."

"Well it always seems like you just talk about yourself, your stupid problems you are having at practice. I mean you flip around on a fucking mat. I have to worry about getting smashed by the three hundred pound USC defensive lineman. I think I win."

"You're right, sorry." She said flatly, finally locating the blue cordless phone and typing in the number on the fridge. She could hear him sigh heavily on the couch as she tried to order what he wanted. She hung up and set the phone on the counter a little too hard.

She came back to the couch and slid in, keeping a cushion distance away, hoping he would get the point. "They said it should be a half hour, forty five minutes." She watched as he reached out his hand and took her wrist, practically dragging her towards him. She gave in, sliding her body near his. Nope, he was a guy, he definitely hadn't gotten the point.

"But I'm hungry" he said, pulling her close to him. She willingly moved till he had her in his lap once again. He was already back to kissing her neck, his fingers quickly working on the buttons on her shirt. She pushed his hands away, she tried to distract him, "W-we have other food."

"I'm not hungry for food just yet Taylor."

She resisted the urge to throw up. That was so stupid. She felt disgusted as he sloppily unbuttoned her shirt. She drew in a breathe, and smelt a sharp, distinct, scent.

"Cody have you been drinking?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, mother, I had a few drinks with the guys before I came over."

"How many is a few?"

"Fuck I don't know, Tay. A few."

"Ugh," she said, starting to pull away, but he held onto her tighter.

"Come on T, stop being stupid, it was just a couple drinks." He started kissing under her jaw, and now half her shirt was unbuttoned.

She didn't want to deal with this so she started feeding him feeble excuses. "What if Gabriella comes home?"

"You said she had class, she wont be home for a couple hours." His hands went back, working on the next button so the bottom part of her bra was starting to show.

She pushed him away again, not as convincing this time, " I'm tired, Cody, come on."

He stopped and looked up at her, clearly annoyed, "Fuck, come on, Taylor, seriously? You sound like an old lady."

She paused, then sighed again. He took that as his go ahead and was not slow to pick up exactly where he left off. The rest of the buttons were stripped off, not as quickly as he usually would have. She suspected he couldn't see them straight. He was rougher than usual with her, pinching her skin as he missed her bra strap. But it didn't slow him down and soon she found herself totally undressed on his lap. It took all her effort to undress him as his hands roamed where they pleased.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked, hoping he would care about how she was feeling just stop, or slow down, or at least not be so rough. But he ignored her and flipped her over onto the couch, crushing her small body under his as he spread apart her thighs and started moving inside of her. She somehow brought herself to make the appropriate gasps and moans. But he hardly noticed she was just going through the motions. He gripped her waist too tight and went too hard. She was so sore from practice already. She groaned and asked him to slow down, and he did, for a few moments before getting too caught up in what he was doing. Then he just went even harder than before. From then on all the gasps and moans were not of pleasure, but of pain and disgust as she lay under him.

After what seemed like an agonizingly long time, she found herself slowly dressing as Cody was in the bathroom. She slipped on her panties and jeans slowly, then her bra, and then fished out a tank top from her room and slipped that on. She looked at herself in the mirror. She looked terrible, almost as bad as she felt. She was so annoyed with Cody, he always did stuff like that. Sometimes she felt like that was all it was about for him. She promised herself that when he was sober she would talk to him about it. Even though she knew she wouldn't. She heard the door bell ring after a few more minutes. She threw her thick, dark hair into a pony tail. It still brushed the middle of her back, even though it was high on her head. She trudged over towards the couch and grabbed Cody's wallet that had fallen out of his jeans and then walked over to the door and opened it slowly. Without looking up asked, "How much do I owe you?"

She recognized the voice before she looked up, although she didn't know from where. The tone had a warming sensation on her whole body, in a cozy, welcome home kind of way.

"Eight flat," he said, and you could hear the smile playing on his lips. Taylor glanced up to see the pizza guy from a few days ago. Her eyes got wide with surprise, and for some reason, joy. She noted that as odd. He looked exactly the same, and she noted in relief that she didn't. She couldn't help but laugh," What are the chances?"

He smiled at her fully now, showing a perfect row of teeth, "Pretty good actually, I usually get sent out to this area. If I had known I would keep getting sent to pretty girls like you, I would have requested it long ago."

Taylor smiled and looked down, playing with the bills, "Well now that I know I'm going to start having to order pizza more." She glanced up at him, he really was attractive. He held out his hand, "I'm Chad."

Taylor grinned, "Nice to meet you Chad--"

"I don't think it's customary to exchange names when you deliver pizza."

Taylor looked over her shoulder to see Cody, staring at her and then the pizza guy. She noted that thankfully, he had put the jeans on so now she was only embarrassed instead of mortified. Cody, however, took the liberty of embarrassing himself. He puffed out his bare chest to show that he was, in fact, bigger than him. Testosterone was basically bleeding out his pores. She had also noted that he was not as built as her boyfriend. However, she took it as a positive. Chad was slim, but in shape. He was well built, but not overly muscular like Cody. His whole persona gave off an I-don't-care-what-you-think vibe. She watched as he cracked another crooked smile at Cody, "Sorry man, just saying hi, don't turn green or anything, Hulk."

Taylor suppressed a giggle, she covered her mouth quickly, hoping that he hadn't heard her. They both did though, and she found Cody to be glaring menacingly at her and Chad trying to hide his own grin.

"Just give us the pizza and stay away from my girlfriend, Twat." Taylor rolled her eyes and mouthed "I'm sorry," to him. She was about to hand him the money when Cody took it forcefully from her hands, handed him the exact amount, making sure not to leave a tip. He then grabbed the pizza and Taylor roughly from around the waist, steering her away from the door, "Come on T," and shut the door in Chad's face.

Chad backed away to avoid breaking his nose. He sighed and squinted up at the glowing sun as he began walking down the stairs towards the parking lot. What had just happened? Well, she was clothed this time, that was a plus…or a minus, however way you choose to look at it. He grinned at his last memory of her coming to the door, the way her face looked when she realized he was not who she thought. He wondered for a second if she had thought he was her boyfriend. That made him depressed for some reason. But then he remembered she had mentioned something about her roommate, who from what he heard was named Gabriella. That made him feel better. He had told her his name, and she had commented on ordering more now that he would come to the door. He knew her name started with a T…and that she had a crazy boyfriend who came off as a total tool. He shook his head, typical a hot girl like that would have a tool of a boyfriend. Well at least he hadn't come to the door in a towel, that would have just been too depressing. Although he was shirtless…ok, he needed to stop. He got into his car and started it, and on his way home, all he could think about was the beautiful girl named T.


	2. I've got the gift of one liners

"Hello, this is Pizza Hut, may I take your order?"

Taylor bit her lip to stop herself from talking. This was weird. This was not normal. This did not happen everyday. This was any other way of saying not right. Yet, here she was, calling the pizza place. Despite her top row of teeth clenching her mouth shut she still spoke "Yes, is a Chad working there today?"

"Yes mam, he sure is."

"Do you mind putting him on the line?"

"One second."

She couldn't believe this. She was calling the pizza place to say sorry. She was calling to tell a guy she barely knew that she was sorry how her boyfriend had behaved. This was crazy, and what if he freaked out on her. What if he was angry? What if he stopped coming to her apartment? Even worse, what if he thought this was weird, stalkerish even.

"Hey, this is Chad."

She quickly hung up and threw the phone across the room onto the couch, barely missing Gabriella who had just walked in carrying groceries.

"Woah!" Gabriella cried, "I didn't mean it, whatever I did."

Taylor sighed and grabbed the groceries from her friends arms, "It's not you, that was the pizza place."

"Well what did they do wrong?" Gabriella asked, confused as she walked towards the fridge and opened it, "Raise the price again?"

Taylor glared at that memory, she tended to get angry and lash out at people when things like that happened. It had been a dark day when they raised the prices.

"No, I was trying to talk to the pizza guy that came to our place that one time."

"The one you stripped for?" Gabriella grinned as she placed the eggs in the fridge.

"Yeah that one, well he came again and…" Taylor went off to describe the whole scene to him. Skipping the part before, she knew Gabriella would get really angry if she gave those details. By the time she was done ranting about the whole thing she had washed the dirty dishes, made coffee, and was now sitting at the table watching Gabriella dry.

"I feel like I need to apologize to the guy, Gabriella." Taylor said sipping her coffee.

"Taylor, he is the pizza guy, it's not like you guys are even friends, let alone know each other. What you really should do is smack your lame boyfriend across the head and tell him that you don't come with a collar and leash."

She chose to ignore that comment and went on, "Yes but, he was rude and didn't even tip him. Maybe I should call the pizza place again and talk to him this time." She reached for the telephone, but Gabriella got to it first.

"Helllllz no. You are on 24 hour Phone Watch. What's gotten into you, T?"

"Nothing."

Gabriella eyed her best friend, ""Is this boy cute?" Taylor instantly became defensive, and started wringing her hands thinking about him and how cute he really was.

"What does that have to do with anything!? I'm baseing this off the fact that Cody was rude and I should apologize…and tip him."

Gabriella shook her head, unconvinced. "No, no, you see, Cody is always rude, pushy, even mean, and you always feed these lame excuses out for him. But not this time. This time, all of the sudden, he was out of line. So I'll ask again…is this boy cute?"

"It's not about that. He was nice! Gabriella when he came to the door the first time and I answered in a towel, he didn't even _look_ at my chest! Even YOU would have stared!"

"I stare all the time, they are huge."

"Not helping."

"Sorry. All I'm saying is, you have a thing for our pizza delivery boy. That's kinky. I'm pretty sure there are about 200 porno videos based off of that scenario alone."

"Like you would even know!"

"Just saying."

"He didn't even tip him!"

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "So next time he comes, give him a big tip," she couldn't help but wink after and pucker her lips up.

"Next time, right! I'll just order pizza in a couple days…and then I'll apologize and everything! Gabriella, you are a genius." And with that she leaned over, kissed her cheek, and ran out the door so she wouldn't be late for practice.

The balance beam is the hardest event to do because half of it is mental. That is why it was Taylor's favorite. You had to defeat the bar before you could even begin your routine. If there was any doubt in your mind that you couldn't stay on the bar, you were going to fall. You had to center yourself, focus totally on your steps to stay on. Lately, that had been Taylor's

problem. Every time she got on that bar she became jittery and unfocused, like something was missing. She couldn't even do the simplest trick without slipping, or losing her balance. She groaned as she washed the last of the chalk off of her in the shower, a process that took an hour sometimes. Usually she had something she thought of to calm herself, to steady herself before she started the routine. But lately she had nothing to think of, nothing worked. To cheer herself up, she had given in. She had tried her hardest to hold out but she couldn't any longer. She had ordered pizza. However, the first guy to come was not Chad.

"Hey, sweet cheeks," the random guy with a lip ring and a Mohawk said to Taylor as he handed her his pizza. "That will be eight dollars."

She had looked at him with a blank stare, "Who are you?" she asked rudely.

She guessed that she had looked psycho by the look he gave her, "Uh the pizza guy?" he said motioned towards his uniform, "Did you order a larger pepperoni pizza?"

She started to panic, "Is Chad working today?"

He, at this point, looked uncomfortable. He probably had thought that she was some cereal killer, aimed at murdering pizza boys. "Uh, he was already on a delivery…they sent me."

"That's not my pizza," was all she could manage to say before she slammed the door angrily in his face.

She laughed as she rubbed soap on her sore legs, the poor guy probably thought he escaped torture and being chopped up by a thread. She had gone straight back to the phone and ordered again, praying that Chad would come this time. She had been disappointed yet again when a butch woman with a shaved head answered the door. Afraid for her life, she had literally thrown the money at the woman and slammed the door before she could even be offered the pizza. She thought, as she massaged conditioner into her hair, that she might have gone a little overboard with the next guy that showed. He looked sweet. She also thought she may have gone overboard with ordering pizza a third time. But when he showed up, not being Chad, she temporarily lost it.

"DON'T YOU PEOPLE KNOW WHO TO SEND? I THOUGHT CERTAIN PEOPLE WORKED THE AREA! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?"

He looked visibally shaken, "Uh…pepperoni?"

"UGHH!" And with that…she might have thrown the stupid pizza over the ledge before marching back into her house.

She was now on her fourth freaking pizza order. She stepped out and made sure she got dressed before it got there. She also blow dried her hair…and then for some reason put on make up. When the door bell finally rang Taylor jumped and practically ran to the door. She didn't think she would be able to handle it again if it was not him. It was starting to get weird. Nope, she was pretty sure it had gotten weird two pizza's ago. She promised herself that this was her last try. However, when she opened it, a little to eagerly, there he was, grinning at her.

"Word at my work is there is a psycho girl that has ordered four pizza's today and shut the door on three of the guys,"

Taylor was trapped, so she was already known as the psycho girl. She wondered why he didn't look freaked out by that. She decided it was best to play it off so she flung her hands up casually, "They just didn't have what I wanted."

"Pepperoni pizza?" She smiled that crooked smile he showed her last time and her heart jumped a little.

"Ya I guess you could say that." They both stood there, wondering what to say next. She really should have planned this out better. Wrote stuff down on note cards, anything.

"So, is your boyfriend here?' She looked up to see him wink at her. Usually she would have taken that as a guy inviting himself in. However, his tone no where near showed that. So she smiled, "He isn't feeling pizza much these days."

"Well maybe it's for the best, he's a lousy tipper."

She took that as her cue to grovel, "I'm so, so, so sorry about that by the way, that was so rude of me--"

"Hold on, if I remember correctly he handed me the money," Chad said giving her a look. He seemed to be studying her, waiting for what her answer would be. His eyes fixed on hers, staring intensely like he just wanted to crack whatever code held her together.

"Yes but I should have--"

Chad held his hand up, "Don't apologize for him, he was just being…" He searched for a word as to not offend, "A defensive boyfriend. I would be too if I had you."

She tried hard not to smile, but it happened anyway, "You flirt like this with all your customers?"

"Nah, not the guys," He grinned at her again and let out a chuckle. She laughed with him. When she looked up she saw he had a strange expression on his face, she could only describe it as wonder and amazement. It made her try to guess what was going on in his head, why he was staring at her like that. It made her feel uncomfortable, but in a good way. A vulnerable way. Wow, if he did flirt with all his customers like this, he would get into trouble with a lot of "defensive" boyfriends.

Finally, she got to hear his voice again. "You never did tell me your name, unless you were named after your mom's favorite letter in the alphabet, I feel it's unfair that you know mine and I don't know yours."

She smiled, "You could guess. Since you know it starts with a T."

"Oh we are going to do it this way then, huh?" He said playfully

"Yep."

She watched as his face focused in concentration. His eyebrows knitted together and he looked at the floor. A smile tugged on her lips when she saw him, he looked totally adorable. "Tina?" he guessed

"Nope."

'Tanya?"

"Sorry."

"Tia, Tamera?" he seemed to be getting desperate.

"I'm not washed up Disney twins."

"We will be stuck here all day." he threw his free hand up in the air in surrender.

"Well we have pizza, so we won't go hungry." she answered playfully, leaning against her door frame.

Chad smiled, "I would get fired if they found out I canoodled a customer into giving me a slice."

"Oh, well we cant have you out of work can we. How else would we get in touch?"

"I know, with such a lack of technology these days, communication is almost impossible."

She giggled. Gosh, she was starting to feel like Gabriella. She blushed at the thought of her being such a girl. She was usually more confident and together around guys. Who knew all it took was a couple slices of pizza and she was toast. Suddenly she realized he had been holding her pizza the whole time.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I must be keeping you," She said handing him a stack of bills.

He stared at her deeply again for a few moments, like he had figured part of her out. She found herself embarrassed by whatever he had concluded, like she wished she could be more around him. "Do you always apologize for things that you shouldn't?" he asked her. His tone took on one of frustration, but not of her, of her actions, of her quickness to apologize. He felt it ridiculous

She was a little taken aback by that comment, no one had ever looked or spoken to her like that, "You don't even know me," was all she could think to say.

He let out a small sigh, "I know, that's unfortunate." He looked down and counted the money, his fingers paused, and his eye brows did that thing again, then he counted it again.

"This is way too much." He started to hand her back almost half of the bills but she reached out and grabbed his hand. Though sparks did not fly, nor did cliché bolts of electricity go between them, but there was definitely a fondness and warmth in their touch, which made both of them not want to let go. Taylor spoke first, a little breathless, "No, please take it. Think of it as an apology for last time."

"Don't apologi--"

"Please?" she gave him a look that made his knees shake, and suddenly it seemed like his heart had started beating for the very first time. He let out a sigh of defeat, how could you argue with a girl who was capable of such looks, of changing his mood with one glance, "Fine."

Taylor reluctantly made her way back through her door frame as Chad turned to go. He tucked the pizza case under his arm and stuffed his hands in his pocket. He was about to make his way down the stairs.

"Taylor," she said.

"What?" he turned quickly, almost like he had been hoping she would say something else, prolong the conversation.

"My name, it's Taylor." She watched it register on his face. His smile seemed even more brilliant than she had seen yet. Almost like she had given him a present.

"Taylor…" she liked how it sounded coming out of his mouth, "that was my next guess." And with another wink. He was gone.


	3. A Simple Twist of Fate

**AN: Hello everyone! Nora, here. Just thought I would finally introduce myself! I keep forgetting to be honest. Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying my story, I love writing it so far. I have hit a tiny block, but don't worry, me and my beta will work through it. She is hilarious btw, I wish I could post my rough drafts with the comments she puts in, they make me lol a lot. Even if it does take a while to "unblock" I'm already in the editing process of a chapter 4, so you will get one more relatively soon. The more you review the faster I put it out! ;) I absolutley love reading what you think, good of bad. I can take it, I promise, just review!**

**ENJOY!  
**

* * *

_"He hears the ticking of the clocks  
And walks along with a parrot that talks,  
Hunts her down by the waterfront docks where the sailers all come in.  
Maybe shell pick him out again, how long must he wait  
Once more for a simple twist of fate"_

_-Bob Dylan_

"McKessie, on the mat!"

Taylor jumped up, clapped her hands to get the excess chalk off, and readied herself. It had been a solid practice. She hadn't messed up once yet. She was starting to think that this slump she had been in was gone. She ran, propelled herself from the little bar up, grasped the high bar and swung her body around twice lithely. She went through her routine solidly, keeping her legs together and straight, she loved this feeling. The feeling you were flying, the feeling when your stomach dropped just a little bit on your way down. It was even better with a crowd. This event was always a winner for them. Taylor was on a high as she rotated twice more to get momentum, let go, and started twisting. One twist, two flips, one landing. Pop, went her ankle.

Defeat is a strange thing. It starts from the source of it. What caused it, and works it way up, to your head next. This is where you register the fact that you have just failed. You run through the whole thing again in your mind, trying to figure out how you could have changed it. And the worst part is, you find things. You find so many ways that it could have gone better. You see the slightest changes that could have made everything go perfectly, or at least smoothly. That is when it hits your heart, and you don't know what to do. It tears it a little and knocks the air out of you so you are just left there, trying to gasp back in some of the air, clean air, not tainted by the defeat you have already come to hate in these short seconds.

It was in these seconds that Taylor laid her head back, and cried.

Pain works the same way as defeat, starts at the source, goes to the brain, it skips the heart though. No need to worry your heart with things like this. But pain is a little more kind. It lets your body go into shock first, so you can get up, get to safety, but then it just sets in full force. That is where Taylor was now, sitting in the locker room with her ankle taped up. The pain was coming on hard, and she was praying the meds she took would kick in. But at the moment she was sitting there, crying, wishing this stupid slump would just go away. She was sick of looking weak to everyone. She was supposed to be a leader, a top scorer, one of the greats. Instead, here she was on the locker room floor, dialing a number and trying (but failing) to stop the tears from flowing.

On the fourth and final ring, he picked up, but there was a good five second pause, almost like he had forgotten he had a phone call, before he even spoke.

"Yello?"

"Cody?" Ok, the whole stopping the tears plan, totally not working. She breathed in a shuddered gasp as new tears of pain and frustration flowed over her eye lid and onto her cheek.

"Hey, Tay, what's up?" He was rushed, like he was not in the mood for a feelings talk, but she didn't notice.

"Can you come pick me up?" She had to pull the phone away from her ear so she could let some sobs out, her ankle was throbbing, the extra blood pulsed through the area causing it to swell double its normal size. When she put the phone back to her ear he hadn't spoken yet, and she waited a few more seconds before he responded. She could hear him in the background explaining, to who she guessed were his buddies, that it was his girl on the phone. She heard catcalls and inappropriate statements from the other line, but she didn't care, she just wanted a ride and her boyfriend.

"Why do you need a ride?"

"I just, I just hurt myself, and I'm --I just need you, please come." She stared up at the fluorescent light glaring at her from the locker room ceiling.

Another pause, then finally, "Ya, I'll be there soonish."

"K, thanks," was all she could get in before the line went dead.

She grabbed the edge of the bench and hoisted herself up onto one leg. The blood rushed down, causing her more pain. She bit her lip to keep from crying all over again. She began to shimmy herself out of the tight leotard, thank god she had good balance on her other ankle. She decided to skip the shower, knowing that he would be here for her soon. She wiped whatever chalk she could off of her, and then slowly put her pants on, then her shirt. She looked out towards the exit, the farthest place from her locker. She began to grab onto things, cling to the bench, anything to hop closer. It took her ten minutes to get fifty feet, tears streaming down her face, but finally she made it. She pushed the door open and hobbled outside into the nippy fall air. She thought about how awful it would be to walk, or hop, that hundred feet to the bench with nothing to hold onto. She stood there, leaned against a pillar for a minute before she decided. She took her gym bag off her shoulders and threw it. Thankfully it landed only a few feet from the bench. She then straightened out, tightened her ab muscles and threw her body forward. She walked on her hands easily to the bench. She really wished she had thought of this back in the locker room. The hard part was getting back on her feet. The foot she usually stuck out first was sprained, so she had to remind her brain to stick the other one out. Sooner than she could have even hoped for, she was on the bench. Unfortunately the blood that had rushed to her head, rushed back down to her ankle and it hurt all over again. She reached for her bag, grabbed it, and waited.

An hour and a half later, she was finally in a car driving back to her apartment.

"WHAT AN ASS HOLE," Gabriella screamed out. She had been periodically yelling out like this. Taylor wasn't even flinching any more.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST CALL ME IN THE FIRST PLACE INSTEAD OF RELYING ON THAT NO GOOD, COCK SUCKING BOYFRIEND OF YOURS!?"

Taylor, in any other case, would have enjoyed this. It was not every day that Gabriella spewed out "cock sucking" in a conversation. However, she didn't say anything. Not that she was quiet, her sobs were loud enough to drown out the music. She felt like she was going to be sent a water bill from all the tears lately. Her face burned from humiliation and her head hurt from all the crying she had done in the last half hour. She didn't want to argue, "I don't know,"

Was all she said as she glared out the window and thought back a half hour ago.

He picked up after the third ring, on the third call.

"What!" was all he answered with

"Are you coming?" Taylor asked, staring up at the sun that was now right above her. She had been waiting there for a long time. The pain in her ankle was now a steady throbbing instead of painful jabs. She had had it elevated for a while, so that kept the blood away from it. Still, she was starting to get cold, it was November, the weather was cold, and all the sweat from her practice uniform had dried and left her freezing. She only had a light jacket in her bag and it was not helping. She was covered in dried, chunky chalk and she wanted nothing more than to be home with a cup of coffee. Bottom line, she was impatient and annoyed.

"What?"

She paused, giving it a second to register for him, "To get me, to pick me up."

"Oh fuck, I forgot,"

Wow. It's amazing how when you are in pain, and you feel defeated, how much being told by your boyfriend that he forgot you, sucks.

"Are you serious? You forgot about me?" She was fuming now, how could he be such an idiot. She looked over her shoulder, yep she went to Stanford, weren't the guys supposed to be smart there?

"Fuck, sorry," He sounded anything but sorry, "I was going to, but then the guys started doing shots and I didn't--"

"You're drinking?"

"What are you my motherfucking mother?" He had definitely been drinking.

"ITS BARELY NOON!"

"We started after practice! Fuck Taylor, get off your soapbox." She shook her head, she couldn't believe this. She looked down at her hand, it was shaking she was so mad.

"So you had already been drinking when you said you were going to get in a car and come pick me up?"

"Taylor I'm fine, I'm an adult you know, God, fuck you. I was going to get you afterwards."

"YOU WERE GOING TO GET ME AFTER HOW MANY SHOTS, CODY? TEN? SO MANY THAT YOU COULDN'T EVEN REMEMBER WHERE YOU PUT YOUR KEYS?" She scolded herself for raising her voice, she didn't want him to know that he had gotten to her. But her face was hot and her hands were shaking she was so angry. She couldn't believe he couldn't do this one thing for her, after everything that she did for him.

"God, stop fucking bitching, I'll come get you now." BITCHING! She was thinking, she wanted to scream, to punch the concrete table she was sitting on. She wanted to strangle a small kitty.

She could here in the background him grabbing his keys, "Are you kidding me? Forget it, I don't want you to come get me, I don't want to even see you right now."

"Does that mean we aren't hanging out tonight?"

She threw her hands up, was he being serious? "Fuck no, we are not hanging out tonight, I don't want see your face tonight."

"Come on Taylor, don't be stupid."

"I'm not being stupid Cody, you are drunk and being an ass hole."

She could hear him gulping something down on the line, "I don't know why we go through these fake fights, we both know we are going to make up tonight."

"Cody," she said slowly, so he would understand, "we are not hanging out tonight, don't come over. I don't even know why I'm with you. Fuck you." She hung up the phone, embarrassed, humiliated, frustrated. She dialed Gabriella, and by the time she picked up, which was on the first ring, she was crying all over again. They didn't stop coming while she told her what happened in the gym, they just came harder when she told her what happened with Cody, and now they came even harder at the frustration of it all.

"He is such a douche bag , T, I don't know why you are still with him!" Gabriella was even more angry than Taylor was. She had been such a good friend, helping Taylor to the car and making sure she was comfortable, but once she said she was, she just let it rip. "He just uses you, and the worst part is, YOU LET HIM!" She pulled into their parking lot and parked in the handicap spot. She took a deep breathe, Taylor flinched thinking she was just getting ready to yell again, but it came out as a sigh, "I wish Troy didn't have a game today, I would have called him to meet us here to carry you up the stairs, " she shot Taylor a look, "and he would have sped to get over here." She hopped out of the car and came around to Taylor's side, "But he can't, and I can't carry you…do you think you can make it up there?"

"Yeah, it's not sprained that bad, the worst of it is over, I'll be slow, so don't worry about me, but I'll make it."

They did go up the stairs slowly. But not too slowly, it would hurt worse coming down. But Gabriella insisted on staying slow with her until they both made it to the room three minutes later. Gabriella opened the door and set Taylor's bag in the closet, then helped Taylor over to the couch.

"So here is the plan," Gabriella said matter of factly when Taylor was comfortable. "We are going to see Troy's game tonight."

Taylor groaned and waved her hand in Gab's direction, "Gabriella, I am just not in the mood, I'll stay in."

"No." Gabriella said firmly, right away. "There is no way I'm letting you stay home, sulk, and twist the situation that just happened to make it your fault. Plus, he is going to come over tonight to try to get with you and the worst part is, if you are here, you are going to let him and we both know it. So you are going to the game with me, bitch. Got it?"

"Gabriella I would no--"

"Hmm, funny, I don't remember giving you a choice on this matter," Gabriella said sarcastically.

Taylor gave an exaggerated groan, so Gabriella could without a doubt, know she didn't want to go. "Fine, when are we leaving?"

"After you shower and get ready."

Taylor's eyes went wide, "Seriously? I'll just go like this."

"Don't be ridiculous, I can smell you from here!"

"Oh come on G, who am I trying to impress?"

"Taylor," Gabriella whined, "I don't want to look like a loser for dressing up all nice to impress Troy so I can maybe KEEP A BOYFRIEND, when I'm with my friend who just DEGAF'ed it up. I'll look over dressed." She paused, moving a strand of hair out of her face, "Besides, he might be throwing a party after."

Taylor let out another groan, "Gabs! You forgot to mention that!"

"Oh come on T, don't make me skip it!"

"I hate when you use internet lingo on me B-T-W, it gets the point across so much better."

"Does that mean you will go?"

"Ughhh, but my ankle hurts!" "OH NOW YOU'RE ANKLE HURTS!" Gabriella cried, flailing her arms in the air, "Five minutes ago when we were walking up the stairs you were being Ms. Superwoman I can Conquer the World, but NOW YOUR ANKLE HURTS!"

"Gosh, I'll go, don't go all bitch smacks a hoe on me, G" Taylor said with a grin before, getting up slowly, and hopping to the shower.

They entered the big gym two hours later. Taylor had showered, curled her hair, put on ample make up, and changed three times before Gabriella said she looked good enough to go out, but not too good as to make her look insignificant. She walked, or hobbled in wearing denim jeans, boots, a white tank top with a tight black knit sweater pulled over. She had to walk slow, every time she took a step she had to bite her lip it hurt so bad. But she managed to not limp too bad, she was determined to stay off crutches. Gabriella was stressed that they were late, and was worried that they wouldn't get good seats so she made Taylor limp extra badly as they walked in, and made everyone feel bad so they would move over. They actually ended up with floor seats right by the hoop the Troy's team would go for in the second half.

The game started and Taylor watched Troy, knowing that Gabriella would want help explaining what he was doing. He was good, really good. He was quick, he knew exactly how to move away from his guard. He shot out of their reach like a canon, carrying the ball down the court where he passed it to his team mates. She watched and explained like a good friend, but she found herself eyeing an outside shooter. He was taller than Troy, about six two, and he was number eight. He was not only good when he played, he was beautiful. The way he moved in the huge group of people with no fear, spinning and bouncing out of their way only to jump up and slide the ball over the rim with his finger tips looked like a dance to Taylor. He was attractive, she realized immediately. He had huge hair, a big curly afro. His skin was brown and beautiful. There was something familiar about him, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She never got a clear look at his face, so she couldn't see for sure why he looked so familiar.

She spent the rest of the time getting into the game. She cheered and watched in amusement as Gabriella mimicked her. Gab's however, did catch on to cheer when the boys on Troy's team made a shot. Her phone kept vibrating, messages from Cody. She replied to a few but never told him where she was. He would get jealous if she even mentioned she was at a boys basketball game. She could just hear him say, "You rarely come to my football games!" And she would argue back that she had a lab one Friday, practice the other, and was sick with the flu. All of those he would not care about. She went to reply to another one but Gabriella shot her a look, "Do I have to confiscate the phone?"

She sighed, "No."

"Don't answer another one, he is being a jerk, you need to let him know that he was wrong!"

"Can I just keep it out so I can read them?"

The looked on Gabriella's face told her it pained her to say yes but she conceded.

Soon it was half time and the girls sat under the strobe lights as the dance team did some cheesy routine so some washed up Brittany Spears song.

"It's a great game isn't is T? …I mean really, isn't it?" She asked, worry spread out like butter on her face.

"Well Troy's team is winning, so yes that is good, " She wondered how Gabriella functioned without basic sports knowledge.

"K. Good. How is your ankle? Still up for tonight?"

"Yeah, it's pretty sore, but I think it will be fine if I just take it easy tonight and this weekend."

She clutched her phone in her hand, it let out another vibrate. She looked at the text message. Another one from Cody demanding to know where she was. She glanced over to Gabs, thinking she wasn't looking, she was. Her hawk eyes were aimed at Taylor's finger tips, seeing if she would even think to reply.

They didn't talk for the rest of the half time, Taylor pretended to watch the show as her phone went off four more times and Gabriella pretended to watch the show as she watched Taylor. Finally, after what seemed like way too long, the boys marched out from across the gym. The second half started and it seemed the other team was out for blood. They were triple teaming Troy and when he passed it to their other best player (the mysterious afroed man) they soon rotated so he was fully covered too. However, their guys were no match for Troy and his teammates athleticism. Afro boy weaved through them, cut across the hoop and leapt in the air for a dunk, twice. They pumped fists and chests in celebration but got right back to focusing for the next play. The players were down by Taylor and Gabriella, they were so close to them they could smell their sweat. Troy was double teamed, he tried to weave around but in a panic he passed the ball too high to number eight. He leapt in the air, his whole body stretched out, back arched, just to grasp the ball with his fingertips as he hung three feet in the air. Just then, number 23 from the other team came in, ducked his shoulder, and reamed right into Troy's teammate. You could almost see the air get knocked out of him. His whole body folded to the hit as he flew through the air, letting go of the ball, and came crashing down on the floor. The momentum had him slide all the way out of bounds and almost crashing into Taylor's feet. He lay there for a few moments as the ref called a foul. The players held their positions, giving him space. He lay there for a few moments before rolling slowly onto his stomach. He got onto his knees even slower, taking labored breathes as he clutched his stomach. The sound of skidding shoes on the court started to come after him but he held up his hand so they knew he was ok. Taylor could hear his labored breath come painfully in and out of his chest which had started to move easier. He groaned loudly, but that seemed to be the worst of the pain as his breathing seemed to steady itself. Something about him made her want to reach out to him, to make sure he was ok. She wanted to run her hand over where he got hit and ask if anything hurt, if she could do anything for him. His eyes ran their way up, and locked with hers. She drew in a quiet gasp as the reality sunk into both of them.

She stared, open mouthed, at the pizza boy.

"Chad?" was all she could whisper.

He seemed to recover better than her. His smile read that he almost knew this would happen. That them meeting again was inevitable. If you read even deeper into it you could see that when it came down to it, he wasn't even surprised, it was almost fate that they would have to meet again, to interact.

"Danforth, you ok!?" called his coach from the bench. He looked over his shoulder to see his teammates looking at him apprehensively. He turned to face her again, winked, and then jogged back onto the court.

"Oh. My. God." she said, totally in shock. "It's him."

"Who?"

"Him!" Taylor exclaimed pointing at Chad, to her embarrassment he heard and gave her a smile from their time out huddle. It was a confident, glad you noticed, smile. It was cute and flirtatious and sexy all at the same time. Oh gosh, bring on the blushing.

"You know, Chad?" Gabriella said, surprised.

"You know Chad!?" Taylor said looking in disbelief at her best friend.

"Well, yeah, he is Troy's roommate. They have been friends since they were babies. He is so nice. How do you know him?"

"He…he is the pizza guy…my pizza guy. The one I told you about."

"That Chad?"

"Yes, that Chad. Chad, that Chad, number eight Chad, my Chad."

"Your Chad?"

"I mean…" Taylor said defensively, "the Chad I've been telling you about." She jumped a little when he phone vibrated again. Without looking at it, she flipped her phone open, turned it off, and shoved it into the deepest pocket of her purse.

* * *

"That was a really good game," Gabriella stated matter of factly as the crowd from the gym slowly marched out and only a few stragglers were left.

"Ya it was pretty good, and I'm proud of you for noticing," Taylor grinned and elbowed her best friend. She was acting calm, but in reality the butterflies hadn't left her stomach since Chad had looked at her. What were the chances? This had to be set up, things like this just didn't happen. She couldn't believe it. Thinking back on it, she grinned, thinking about how good he had looked out there.

"Shut up. Are you ready to go? I promised Troy I would meet him outside the locker room, and I have a feeling someone will want to see you," Gabriella winked.

"He is the pizza guy, I bet he has some other girl waiting for him outside the locker room." nonetheless, Taylor stood up shakily and began limping with Gabriella towards the locker room. The pain rushed to her ankle once she stood up, it made her cringe and fight back watery eyes, maybe she should have gone with crutches. However, this was nothing compared to how nervous she was to see if she was right, if he did have another girl waiting for him.

'Nu, uh, no way. I saw the way he looked at you. It was like he was already smitten with you. That night in the towel must have really gotten to him," Gabriella giggled and moved away before Taylor could punch her.

"I hate you, you know that?"

"Yup."

Taylor began to over analyze. he probably would have anther girl waiting for him. He was handsome, no doubt. His smile made Taylor blush, his eyes made her seem like he could see into her very soul. And to top it off, Gabriella mentioned how nice he was. That's it, he probably had a girl friend of six years who he was planning on marrying and being her baby daddy. God life sucked. She sulked the rest of the way to the locker room and leaned against the wall, giving Gabriella her space with Troy.

She watched as Gabriella walked up to Troy, he put his bag down and twirled her around in a hug before kissing her forehead. His hand drug down her arm before clutching her hand, which he then pulled up and kissed. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him, telling him what a good job he did. They were too cute, Taylor couldn't take it. The most Cody had ever done with her after a game was have sex. Which, in context, sounds like a couply thing to do, but not with him. With him it seemed more of a requirement. When she looked at Gabriella and Troy, she saw something that she knew soon would grow into something much deeper, even if they didn't know it yet.

She looked down to give them privacy, pretending to see a loose thread on her jacket. Her mind kept running to Chad, she was afraid to look up, wondering if she would see him with his girl. See him treating someone how Troy was treating Gabriella at the moment. She scolded herself for caring, she had a boyfriend. One who could be a jerk sometimes, but she had made a commitment. Despite all that, she hoped that when Chad did go to meet his girlfriend, he would meet her around back, just out of courtesy to Taylor, and leave with her before she could see.

"Are you stalking me?" The voice rang from her ears to her chest, where she felt her heart jump a little. Her whole body tingled as her eyes slowly moved up to see Chad, leaning on the wall with her, a little bit closer to her face than she had expected. His gym bag was slung across his chest, with one hand keeping it steady. He smelt amazing, like guy shower gel and deodorant; Taylor loved the smell of guy deodorant. His track suit was zipped half way up, showing a blue undershirt that tightly fit his, from what she could gather, very fit chest. She then noticed that stupid crocked smile that made her go weak every time she saw it. It was closer to her than ever before, and for just a second, she wondered what it would be like to kiss those full lips that seemed to be inviting her in. She forced herself out of that dangerous direction and managed a small laugh at his joke.

"Yes, I'm stalking you. You could have told me your roommate was dating my roommate."

"I didn't know she was your roommate. You always answered the door, a gesture I'd like to believe was on purpose." He grinned at her and she blushed and looked down.

"You haven't delivered in a while," She looked back up at him to see a quick flash of disappointment cross his perfect features before he managed a small smile, "I had to quit, they don't let us have a job during the season, too busy, you know?"

"Ya, we still have a few weeks before our season kicks in, so right now they are still focused on kicking our butts," she was suddenly glad that Troy was keeping Gabriella distracted. If she had listened closely she would have heard Gabriella giggling in the background, but at the moment she was a little focused.

"You play?"

"Play isn't really the right word. I…compete?" When she saw his upper lip thin out and his bottom lip pucker slightly in a look of confusion, she had to suppress a giggle to match her roommates. He was so adorable. "I'm a gymnast."

A genuine look of surprise crossed his face and it brightened, making him look even more astonishing, "A gymnast? Well you don't meet those everyday," he paused before adding, "Well I guess every other day, but that's only when she is really in the pizza mood."

She laughed again, "Ok, ok, I get it, I order a lot. I kinda like their service."

Now it was his turn to laugh and look away. In that he showed a sort of boyish quality, and he seemed surprised by himself that he had shown it at all, almost like it wasn't normal for him to act this way in front of girls.

"So are you coming to our apartment?" He looked hopeful, like he would be disappointed if she said no. She felt a little twinge of accomplishment when he did, and the need to please him, to make him happy. She scolded herself for feeling this way, so strongly, about a guy she barely knew.

"Oh yes, Gabriella dragged me here as her date, although it doesn't really look like she needs me anymore." She glanced off to the side of Chad, since she couldn't see over his shoulder, to get a better view of Gabriella and Troy, who were talking quietly, their faces close, both of them smiling at each other.

"Well…" he paused, gathering his words and thoughts, "You could accompany me?" He said it as a question, giving her room to refuse, room to back out, and to avoid a conversation he didn't want to have he quickly added, "As friends, of course."

She saw again that Gabriella and Troy were now watching them, waiting to leave. She also noted that Gabs was whispering in Troy's ear, probably spilling lies about her and Chad. "I would love to," she answered him. When she did she felt her hands tingle, like they wanted to reach out for his. She had to clench them to hold back. He began walking, and she turned her body and slowly followed. It took only a few steps for him to realize that she was lagging behind. He turned and looked at her curiously, then when he saw her limp he looked down at her ankle, hidden under jeans, so he could only guess.

"Did you hurt yourself?" a genuine look of concern washed over him.

"Barely, it's just sprained," She said waving him off. In two strides he was back at her side, "Do you need help walking?" he seemed more than ready to pick her up and carry her too the car.

"No, no don't be silly, you just played a whole game," she waved her hand as to dismiss him. When she looked up she saw a look on his face that could only read, don't be ridiculous.

"Seriously, do you need help walking?" he was asking sincerely, not just to be polite. This made her heart ache a little. Cody would have never offered, and he was twice Chad's size and height.

"No, really, I'm fine, please. If you just…walk slowly next to me for company it would be more than enough." He seemed to be thinking about it, weighing the pros and cons. She guessed he decided that that was adequate, or all he would be able to get away with, so he took his position at her side and walked with her. He insisted on holding her elbow to take some of the weight, but she wouldn't let him do much more. Once he saw her walk, however, he guessed she was probably in a lot more pain that she let on, and he couldn't help but tighten his grip on her and take some of the weight off.


	4. Two Strangers Passing on a Sidewalk

"_Two strangers passing on the sidewalk_

_Barely brush each other's hand_

_He says "I'm sorry"_

_She says "Don't worry"_

_And that is how it all began_

_A few short days and night together_

_And it's like they were meant to be_

_Lying there with her he softly whispers_

_Just think what we were so recently"_

_-Martina McBride  
_

The apartment was not what Taylor had expected at all. Her and Gabriella's apartment was in a bad neighborhood, it was run down, but they made the best of it. This apartment however, was spotless, chic, and people were swarming every where. She took note that most were basketball players with their dates. The entire atmosphere made her feel…short. So many tall people. It didn't help she was not able to wear heels tonight. She doubted she breeched the 5'0 mark without them. She searched for Gabriella, needing a short friend. She had no problem with that, however, seeing as her and Troy swarmed Chad and Taylor the minute she hobbled painfully through the door.

"So you didn't tell me that Taylor was…that Taylor," Troy said accusingly.

"Dude, I didn't know that Taylor was…that Taylor…for you," Chad said, giving Taylor a little side smile. He had not left her since after the game. Her hands get burning for his, she didn't know why but she stuffed them in her pockets to suppress the urge.

"He's been talking about me?" Taylor peeped in, staring at the two of them.

Troy rolled his eyes, "It's all he does. He almost had to take a vote to ban the name Taylor from the house." Taylor found herself pleased by this comment, a little too pleased.

"Shut up, I have not," Chad replied quickly with a punch to his arm. His face was turning as red as a black person could get. He seemed boyish and nervous, jumpy, he kept sticking his hands in his hair, which Taylor noted, made it even bigger.

"Don't be shy, Chad," Gabriella chimed in, "She spoke about you too," Taylor snapped out of studying Chad's curls and looked at Gabby who winked at Taylor, and Taylor met her wink with a solid glare. "Besides," Gabs began, looking devilish, "I like you two together, it could work." She laughed again as both Taylor and Chad blushed and looked away.

"Guys…guys," Taylor pleaded, "Stop laughing!" She felt lucky she was black, because if she wasn't she would be bright red right now. Chad seemed to sense their need to escape before being roasted more, so he came to her rescue, "Guys, Taylor should probably get off her feet, I'm going to take her over there."

In any other case, Taylor would have argued that she was fine, though her foot had been throbbing since she stepped out of her car, but she was glad for an out as she let Chad lead her over to the couch and sit her down, he sat down close to her, taking her leg with her sprained ankle, and laying it across his lap.

From across the room Gabriella smiled in satisfaction and looked at Troy, "So what do you think?"

Troy ran his fingers through his hair, "I've known Chad a long time…and I know he just met this girl but…he has never acted this way. You should see him when it's just us. He talked about her all the time. I thought it was weird because, you know, he delivered pizza to her a few times. But…I didn't know it was Tay."

"If they don't get together, I'm going to put them together," Gabriella said staring at them.

"Uh, Brie, I don't think you can do that…"

She gave him a try-me look, "Troy, just watch. I'll give them a chance to do it on their own first, but then I'll step in."

He laughed and slid his hand around her waist, pulling her close to him, "Ok, Gabriella," and kissed her forehead before pulling her towards some of his friends to introduce them to her.

*******

"Can I see it?" He asked softly, already rolling up her jeans.

"Ya, I guess," she said, silently thanking herself that she had just gotten a pedicure.

She watched as her rolled up her jeans half way up her calf, then very slowly, very gently, slid her shoe off. She kept cringing, but only to prepare for the pain that never came. He was so careful with it.

"Have you iced it recently?" He asked, his tone business like but still caring. He squinted his eyes every so slightly as he examined the tape job.

"No not for a few hours, I've been out, I was going to--"

"You should ice it," again his tone business like.

"Yes but it's all taped up and I don't know how to redo it."

"I can do it," he said quickly, finally looking into her eyes. She didn't realize until he did that she had been wanting him too. She loved how he looked at her. His eyes were so dark, but they showed his emotions so beautifully that it was almost breath taking. She had never seen someone she found so attractive in so many different ways. She took a breath before answering, to clear her head. However, it just filled her with his scent, so it didn't help at all.

"Chad, that's nice of you but…do you even know how to tape an ankle?" The last thing she needed was to be used as a test dummie and be ripping it off late tonight when all the circulation was cut off. She waited for him to say he had no clue how, but instead he let out a chuckle.

"I'm in school to be a physical therapist, I can wrap an ankle."

"Oh," Taylor said, slightly surprised, "Physical therapist? No hope for the NBA?"

Chad sighed, gave her a smile, "I'll get the ice first, then we will start talking, I have a feeling if I don't get it now, I won't want to get up to get it later." He bent her leg at the knee, kept it lifted as he slid off the couch, then replaced his lap with a pillow, before setting her leg down gently.

"Don't move," he said playfully and winked before he walked off.

She sat there, wondering what he had meant by that. He wouldn't want to get up? Did he really want to talk to her that bad. She hoped he did, she smiled down at her swollen ankle, glad that it had gotten her planted with him for the evening. She patted it, "Good work." Maybe this little slump she was in wasn't looking so bad now.

He came back quickly, an ice pack in hand and set it down on the couch. He tried to slide under back where he was without hurting her but he bumped it and she jumped a good six inches in the air and yelped so loud quite a few people turned. When she looked at his face it was frozen, "I am. So. Sorry."

"It's fine, it's fine," she said quickly, fighting the urge to grab it.

"I'm so, so, so sorry, " he said placing it gently on his lap.

She smiled, the pain from bumping it had faded, "Ok, who is the one apologizing now?" She touched his arm to let him know it was ok. He gave her a small smile, "If you don't want me to touch it now I understand."

She smiled again, "Chad, I'm a little tougher than that, you can touch it, I just wasn't expecting it, it surprised me more than it hurt. Now…are you going to answer my question?"

He slowly started to take the tape off, strand by strand. He worked slowly and so gentle, the only reason she really knew his hands were there was the tingle she felt whenever he touched her.

He smiled, "I'm not tall enough as an outside shooter to make it to the NBA, six two just doesn't cut it these days. I mean, it would be nice to get looked at by them but chances are they would stick me in some B league, pull me up for the play offs, and then send me back down. It would be unfair to me, and to the game, to play longer than I should. So if it's meant to be it will happen, if not. I think I could be really happy doing this."

She looked over at him, watching him as he pulled the last of the tape off. Her ankle was more than double its size and around the whole bone was black. Purple was dabbed around the edges and beyond that was a gross yellow.

"Wow, Taylor, this looks really bad. How are you walking?"

"Eh," she said casually, "I've had worse."

He looked at her in disbelief, "Guys would be carried off the court for something like this, you just walked up the stairs and everything. Have you been walking on this all day?"

"Well," she said laughing, "I walked on my hands a little."

It took a second for that to register, then he laughed, "You're unlike anyone I have ever met, Taylor McKessie." he steadily placed the ice pack on her ankle. She jumped a little and her look at her, concerned, "Did, I hurt you?"

"No, no," she said quickly, "It's just cold."

There was a calm silence between them for a few moments, "You know," she said, "It takes a lot of guts to admitt that you might not make it to the NBA. Most guys aren't man enough to admitt they might not cut it."

"Most guys just cant face the odds. Only one percent will make it. Troy over there," Chad pointed towards his friend, "he has a really good shot. But what about you? Any Olympic medals in the future?"

She laughed a little, "Nah, it was either train for the Olympics or go to college. As a gymnast it's either or. If I wanted to I would have had to go professional and then I wouldn't be eligible for college, which was always my top priority. Gymnastics just helped me get there for a lower price."

He nodded in understanding, "Where do you go?"

She hated this question, it was always awkward, "Uhh…Stanford."

He let out a low whistle, "Whoa."

"It's not a big deal."

He gave her a look, "It's kind of a big deal, you have to be brilliant to get into there."

She shot him a look next, "I'm the exception."

He shook his head, making his curls bounce, "Whatever," he chuckled.

Another calm silence fell between them. They were already comfortable around each other. She was basically in his lap and letting him basically play doctor on her. They were bantering back and forth, a few days ago he was just the pizza guy. Things like this didn't happen.

"This is weird, you know."

"What's weird?" He asked

"All this! You show up at my door, randomly to give me a freaking pizza, and now here we are, our roommates date. It's kind of surreal."

"Or fate," he said giving her a playful grin, though something told her he was not joking, and something inside of her agreed with him.

"Or surreal," she said sticking her tongue out.

"It's not everyday a girl like you shows up on your door step…or I guess you show up on hers,"

"A girl like me," she said laughing quietly, "you don't even know me." If he did, he wouldn't be talking to her. She wasn't good enough for him, she shouldn't even be sitting on the couch with this guy.

"We could change that," he said daringly

Taylor squirmed slightly, "Depends on what you mean by that."

He laughed again, she didn't even care that he was laughing at her, she loved the sound of it, "I mean, we will play truth. You ask a question to the other person, they cant lie. First one to not answer a question loses."

Taylor's competitive nature began to surface, even to the smallest challenge, "You're on."

He grinned, he seemed to like what he saw in her, "Ok, I'll start easy on you, favorite number,'

Without thinking she blurted out, "Eight." She watched his face spread into a satisfied grin, "Oh don't get a big…ger head! It was eight before I saw that that was your number!"

"Sure, sure, sure."

"Where are you from?" she asked, playing with a strand of her hair that fell to her waist when she was sitting.

"Phoenix, Arizona," he replied, "Love me some dry desert heat."

"Ew, sounds awful." she made a face.

"Not really, you should go there during the winter, it's amazing. And monsoon season, everything smells so good."

"Ya but the summers suck."

"True, summers do suck, but you just don't go outside unless you have to."

"Ok, your turn."

He thought for a short moment. Running his finger along the outside of her bruising. She felt her skin tingle under it where he had touched. "Tell me something you fear."

"I hate blood. I hate blood more than anything." She squirmed at even talking about it.

"You hate blood?" he asked curiously.

"Ya, I hate everything about it, the smell, how it feels it's just …ew. " she gagged a little talking about it. She actually passed out whenever she saw it. Hit the ground, straight up, but she didn't want to disclose that information.

They went on like this for an hour straight. Learning whatever they could about each other. Favorite color, food, vacation spot, how they met Troy and Gabriella. After an hour though, the questions kept coming.

Taylor had finally suppressed her laughter when she found out that Chad had wet the bed until seventh grade. She finally was able to ask, "What were you like in high school?"

He had a small smile, almost like high school had been a very memorable time. "I was your typical cocky jock. I loved the ladies and they loved me back," he grinned in her direction, "It was a seriously cool school. They lived for our basketball season, and we didn't disappoint. But, I've grown out of my high school days, I'm glad they happened, but I'm also glad I'm not that guy anymore."

"You're a ladies man?" she said grinning, but really kind of turned off.

"Used to be," he said looking at her, studying her reaction. She almost thought maybe he saw through the grin. That made her feel vulnerable.

"What changed? How did you go from being a tool to Mr. Nice Guy?"

"Wow! Tool?" He said laughing, "Harsh. But a fair question. You see, I had this best friend named Troy, who was always a nice guy, everyone loved him. And I would be juggling girls around, sometimes more than one at a time, and he would always tell me 'Dude, that's not the way to treat them, on day it's going to bite you in the ass.' And it did," He smiled, "I fell head over heels for this girl who pretended to be way more into me than she was, and then she crushed me when I found out she was cheating on me." Through the whole story his smile had stayed on his face, he looked up at Taylor, who had her chin cupped in her hand, her elbow propped up on her leg. "So that's when Troy got to tell me I told you so, and that I decided I wouldn't treat girls like objects anymore."

"So how has that worked out for you?" Taylor asked, "Gotten yourself the woman of your dreams yet?"

He stared at her intently for a few moments, "Nope, not quite yet."

"No girlfriend?" She asked, scolding herself for being nervous about the answer

"No, I'm pretty single," She noticed that he had scooted closer to her, or she had leaned in, one or the other.

"Why? No girl has caught your eye?"

He smiled, his big wide smile, "Oh, a girl has caught my eye alright. But she unfortunately, is taken by someone, who in my opinion, is no where near good enough for her." He kept his grin up as Taylor registered what he said. Her face grew hot as she blushed, he seemed to have that affect on her a lot. Her fingers got that similar tingle she had earlier, making her want to reach out and touch him, hold his hand, run her hand down his arm, anything. She had to grasp her hands together to keep from doing so.

"Maybe it's not that the guy isn't good enough for her, it's that she isn't good enough for anyone else."

His eyes went wide for a second, then dark, looking at her like he wanted to reprimand her, "You obviously don't see this girl in the right light. She is absolutely beautiful, inside and out," the way he looked at her, the way he emphasized the word beautiful, she wanted to cry. She swallowed hard before speaking again.

"Does this girl have a name?" Taylor asked, playing along, smiling easily after his last comment. She knew she shouldn't. She knew this was going to get her in trouble, but she didn't care at the moment.

"Well," he said, seeming pleased that she was in on it, "I thought at first her name was just a letter, but she later informed me otherwise," he had inched even closer to her. "The problem is," he said, starting to lean in, "I don't think she returns my feelings. Even though I have this crazy gut feeling that it's right, I don't think she feels it."

Her stomach fluttered nervously, she found her body creeping in, and soon there faces were close, "I think maybe you underestimate what this girl is feeling," she found herself staring, for the second time tonight, at his lips. She wanted to kiss them so badly, she didn't think she would be able to sleep unless she knew what it felt like. She imagined his lips caressing hers, moving slowly with hers until she was out of breath. She knew, also, that he was imagining the same thing. She watched as his hand came towards her face, cupping her cheek in it. His hand was rough and calloused but gentle as it formed to her. His lips lowered to hers and she raised her chin to meet his lips. Her head was screaming stop but her heart was not going to let this opportunity pass by. Their cheeks brushed against each other, and she could feel his breath on her neck. His forehead leaned against hers as he dipped down lower to finally kiss her. She wanted it, she wanted it so bad her chest hurt.

"Hey Chad," one of his teammates chimed in, she felt insane sadness as she heard him sigh regret in her ear instead of kissing her lips. "I was just about to head out, though I'd say goodbye."

He seemed to be completely unaware that he was interrupting. Did he not have eyes? She watched Chad to see what he would do: he recovered and held out his hand to shake his friends, "Ya, man, see you at practice."

When his friend left, he slowly looked back at her with a small smile, holding a tinge of regret on his face, "Sorry about that,"

"It's fine," she said quickly, slightly disheveled by the last minute of emotions. She tucked her hair behind her ears and folded her burning hands together. Her heart was pounding in her chest so hard she was afraid he could hear it. Her head was swimming, she wondered if he was feeling how she was. The way he had spoken to her, he had said things no one had ever said to her. She watched his face in concentration. She wanted to know what he was thinking. Was he upset, angry? Was he glad, had he changed his mind about her, realized the mistake he was making? Was his heart beating out of his chest like hers was. Were his lips burning, had his hands been tingling since he had met her, like hers had?

"What's going on in your head, Taylor?" Chad asked quietly. She looked up to see him studying her. His face read curiosity, anxiety, and his eyes were burning for some reason she didn't understand. She looked down, away from his gaze that made her emotions jump start, "Just…thinking," she replied.

He smiled slightly, amused. "Ya, I gathered that."

Now it was her turn to smile, she looked up at him, "About…that, and whether or not it's a good thing it didn't happen."

He nodded, seeming to be digesting what she had just said. He ran his hand over to her ankle, which was still being iced. He lifted it off and held it up, "I should go put this in the sink, and get the stuff to wrap your ankle." He once again, gently maneuvered her until he slid out and then was off, walking a little quickly to the kitchen. Taylor grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it on her face, trying hard to decide whether to suffocate herself or to scream.

"Hey Taylor, where is Chad?" a soft, inviting voice chimed from above. Taylor looked up from her suffocation device to see Gabriella, almost glowing from her night with Troy so far.

"Probably off whishing he had never come to our door!" Taylor said dramatically as she threw the pillow to the other side of the couch. Gabriella moved her leg, not half as gently as Chad had and stuffed herself under it.

"What happened?"

"We almost kissed."

"WHAT!"

"I know, I know," Taylor said guiltily, "I know I have a boyfriend and I'm not that kind of girl but he was right there, and G, he is so nice and--"

"Oh Taylor, you know I hate Cody, I'm not "WHAT"ing because of that….what I want to know is why did you stop!?"

Taylor paused and rolled her eyes before she went on, "We were interrupted by one of his teammates."

Gabriella shook her head, "I should have been patrolling."

Taylor gave Gabriella a look, the sad thing was, she wasn't kidding.

"Gabriella, I probably scared him off, he is never coming back." She didn't expect the thought of that to have such a reaction on her body. Her chest started to hurt and the room got a little too hot, stuffy, like there were suddenly too many people.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because after, he asked me what I was thinking, and I said I was thinking about whether or not it was a good thing we didn't kiss! Now he probably thinks I hate him and that I'm just playing him and I'm just this good for nothing tease and UGHHH!"

Chad threw the ice bag in the sink, took five steps towards the hallway where Troy was standing talking to some friends, and grabbed him by the shirt, "We need to talk," he said quickly before practically pulling Troy into his bedroom.

"Dude, this is new, what is it?"

"I blew it!" Chad cried, throwing his hands up into the air before closing the door behind them.

"I'm sorry, what did you blow?" Troy was still recovering from being ripped from a group mid conversation

"Things with Taylor!" he yelled, ringing his tingling hands together. He had been so overwhelmed back there that he just stormed off, how rude of him, what had he been thinking? He just couldn't be around her, the way she made him feel was so dangerous, the things she said made him go weak. He had never spoken to someone so intelligent and down to earth. Someone so fragile but incredibly strong at the same time. It didn't hurt that she was unknowingly playing the damsel in distress card, it just made him want to help her even more. She was so beautiful, he had never felt so attracted to anyone from the moment he had seen them. When she had showed up at his game he had just known there was a reason, that they were meant to know each other for some reason. And now, he had blown it.

"Ok, ok," Troy said, trying to calm him panicking friend down, "How did you blow it?"

He was now pacing from one side of the small bedroom to the other, "I tried to kiss her! I tried to kiss her and we were interrupted."

Troy paused, waiting for him to say more, "…Ya…and?"

"And she probably thinks I'm some crazy creep who just wants some ass! Who just meets a random girl, sees her at their game, invites her to their apartment, and then doesn't have enough self control to contain his emotions for a few fucking hours and pounces on her the first chance he gets!?"

"Well, you apparently."

"Yes, me! She probably thinks I'm just some jerk. The girl has a boyfriend."

"Who is a total jack ass, " Troy chimed in.

"It doesn't matter, she is with him, I'm supposed to respect that!'

Troy leaned against the wall and whistled, "God, you've changed."

"OBVIOUSLY NOT!" Chad said falling onto the bed and throwing his hands over his face. "I couldn't help it," he said more calmly," she was so amazing, and gorgeous. You should talk to her Troy."

"I do, I see her all the time,"

"She is funny, smart, so sexy, even when she doesn't mean to be. She doesn't even realize what she can accomplish, and that is the best part."

"And you gathered all of this from talking to her for an hour and a half?" Troy said in disbelief.

"Remember when you met Gabriella, and you just couldn't stop thinking about her for days after, even before you had the guts to ask for her number? That's how it is with her. And then she was right there and…I blew it."

"I really don't think you blew it."

"I did, I know I did."

"Well what did she do when you tried to kiss her?"

"We-well," Chad said, stuttering. He thought back to it. He remembered his heart racing, his palms sweating, the butterflies in his stomach that he hadn't gotten since the first time he had kissed a girl. He remembered being so self conscious in that moment…but he did remember her leaning in too. He remembered the smell of her hair, the heat of her body when it moved closer to his. "She leaned in," he said, flustered and breathless at the memory.

"Well, there you go, she wanted to kiss you." Troy said with finality, "Obviously she doesn't think you are a creep or a tool because she leaned in too."

"Ya, but when I asked her what she was thinking she said she was thinking about whether or not it was a good idea that we didn't!"

"…You asked her what she was thinking? You're turning into a girl."

"Shut the fuck up! It sounds gay but I swear in context it didn't."

"K, well anyway. She, of course, was thinking about whether it was a good idea because she has a boyfriend, even if he is a total dick."

"You think that was the only reason?" He felt a sense of relief, the pain he had been feeling in his chest subsided, though his hands still tingled to hold hers.

"Ya, man. Believe me, if she thought you were a creep, she would probably do some weird, crazy gymnastics move and whoop your ass. You should see that girl go…it's crazy."

Chad rolled his eyes at his friend, "But what do I do? I left her out there, I said I was going to get tape and stuff. And should I talk about it?" He was worried again, God he had never had a girl that so easily affected his emotions.

"Just tell her you couldn't find it." Troy said, shrugging, "and don't bring it up, pretend like it didn't happen. Besides, you don't want her seeing what a loser you are like you were with me just now. I swear you are becoming a girl."

Chad ignored the second part of that, stood up, patted his friends shoulder, "You're the best, man," and walked out of the room.

"So what do I do when he comes back!? If he comes back!?" Taylor said, still panicking even though Gabriella had been consoling her for the last five minutes telling her he didn't think she was a tease.

"What do you mean?" Gabriella asked.

"Do I talk about the kiss? Ask him how he felt?"

"I don't know, I think it would be better to just ignore it, or at least don't be the first one to bring it up."

Taylor took a deep breathe as she saw Chad coming from across the room, "Good plan, thanks Gabs."

He coughed to tell the girls that he had come back, "I, uh, couldn't find the tape, sorry," he said smiling at the both of them.

"That's fine," Taylor said, just happy that he had come back at all.

"Hey, Chad, have you seen Troy?" Gabriella asked, basically pushing Taylor's leg off of her (causing Taylor to grit her teeth) before standing up, no doubt to give them their space.

"Uh, I think he is by the kitchen," Chad said pointing in the direction. Gabriella said thanks and started to walk off. But not before turning around, Chad's back to her, and whispering to Taylor, "Ill be watching," with a wink.

Chad sat down, moving Taylor's leg a lot gentler than Gabriella had. There was a few seconds of awkward silence before Taylor, as usual, had to say something.

"You have a really nice place, by the way," she said, looking around, "I mean, I haven't seen all of it, but it's not what I expected."

Chad chuckled as he started taping her ankle quickly, like someone who had had a lot of practice, "Well that is definitely not my doing, I'll tell you that right now."

"What do you mean?" Taylor asked curiously.

"We have a roommate, Anthony. Well…he is kinda, really, extremely OCD. Everything has to be spotless. And he just so happens to have a slight sense of style, unlike the rest of us. We let him handle all appearance decisions, it's the only way he doesn't go nuts."

"Oh!" Taylor said, surprised, "Have I met him? Where is he?" she asked searching the room.

"Oh he is locked up in his bedroom," Chad said shaking his head, "He isn't exactly social…unless he is around just us guys. We are slowly trying to integrate him into society," he finished with a smile.

"Really?" Taylor said grinning, "A nerd? I'd like to meet him, I have experience with those. I speak nerd, you know."

Chad grinned at her, "I kind of guessed that. You can meet him next time you are over."

"Ya," she said smiling, "next time." she felt excited that he had mentioned them being together another time. That meant he couldn't be totally offended and think she is a tease for the almost kiss.

"That is, if you want to come over again, " he added quickly, since he was not sure how she felt about the almost kiss, he didn't want to seem too forward.

"Of course I do," Taylor said, suddenly worried again. Maybe he thought that she wouldn't want to come over because she really was not interested in him. Ugh, she couldn't take this stress, she had to say something.

'You know, about that kiss…almost kiss," she started quickly, "I don't want you to think that I'm just a tease, or a girl who would just go off and do something with a guy when I have a boyfriend. I'm usually not like that. Not that foreword."

Chad shook his head quickly, "No, oh God, no. I don't think that at all," he seemed almost alarmed that she would even think he would think that. "I was worried you thought I was some creepy jerk who just wanted ass! Not someone who actually wants something more," he blurted out. She suddenly felt all the stress from the situation go away, and her heart jumped when he said he wanted something more.

She giggled, "I don't think you are a creep…or a guy who just wants ass."

He sighed, "Good."

It was late, people had started to dwindle out of the apartment a while ago. It was now just Troy, Gabriella, Chad, and Taylor; however, Troy and Gabs were giving them there space. They knew, though, it was almost time for the night to end. Taylor felt sad, she could sit here talking to him forever. She didn't want to go back to her own apartment.

"I had a lot of fun tonight. Thanks for sitting with me, I know you probably wanted to talk to your friends," she said smiling.

"Believe me," Chad said, "I couldn't think of a better way to have spent tonight than with you."

There was her heart jumping again. She had never had someone who could just make her heart sing with one sentence.

"Do you think," he continued. She noticed that he was wringing his hands, and adjusting his shirt. His face was scrunched slightly in concentration. He looked nervous, and adorable. Her hands burned again to reach out and take his. "that I could have your number?"

She took a deep breathe, she had not been this excited for a guy asking for her number since seventh grade. She smiled fully, "Of course, I think the pizza place is getting sick of me calling asking for a special deliverer anyway. And now that you don't work there, they have my number posted saying do not answer probably." They both laughed as they exchanged numbers. He helped her up slowly, and together Troy and Chad walked the girls out the door.

"I would call that a successful party, " Troy bantered on casually as they made their way down the hall.

"One of the best," Chad said smiling down at Taylor. Everyone was keeping a naturally slow pace. She didn't know whether it was because of her of they didn't want the night to end.

"We should do this again," Gabriella chipped in. When Taylor glanced her way, she saw a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, "Just the four of us."

Taylor glared.

"Ya!" Troy said enthusiastically looking at everyone, "That would be chill, let's do it."

They started down the stairs then, taking each other's hands automatically. Taylor stopped at the foot and peered down. If you have ever had a sprained ankle, you know it's almost impossible to go down stairs with one. She was about to take the first painful step, her face already cringing when, "I could carry you."

She looked up at Chad staring at her, she wondered how often he looked at her when she wasn't paying attention. She secretly hoped it was a lot.

"Don't be ridiculous," Taylor said grasping the railing.

"Look," he said, grasping her wrist gently, "I know how bad it sucks to go downstairs with one of those, just let me carry you."

"No really, it's not that bad."

He seemed to be giving her the "you're ridiculous" look a lot tonight, she felt her face get hot as he gave it to her again.

"Taylor, I saw your ankle, it's bad. I really don't mind. You really have a problem letting people help you don't you?"

She smiled a little, "I don't like feeling vulnerable."

"You're not vulnerable, you're just hurt, and I'm just helping…please let me help you."

She loved how even when he was being stubborn, he still said please. It made her want to giggle like Gabriella. She sighed, though, disguising her girlish moment, but agreed. In one swoop he pulled her up, her feet dangling off his legs and he had her pressed to his chest. It seemed that she was nothing to him, nothing to carry anyway. She came to the conclusion that even though he was not nearly as built as Cody, he was almost as strong. She couldn't help but enjoy his strong hands holding her, she found herself wishing that she could be held by him the rest of the night. She imagined herself jus curling up with him, watching a movie. She bet he would be up for it. Or maybe just sitting there, talking together, getting to know each other better. Her mind wondered to how it would feel to kiss him, so upset that she didn't know. All too soon, he was setting her back on the ground. She wished the stairs were a few hundred flights longer. Nonetheless, Chad helped Taylor into Gabriella's car and talked to her as Troy and Gabs kissed each other good night.

"I really did have fun tonight, Taylor" he said sincerely, something unreadable in his eyes.

"Me too," Taylor said smiling, looking into those dark, sparkling eyes that she could get lost in, "We should do it again soon."

"I hope we can," he said as Gabriella opened the door into the car. He leaned down quickly, and gently kissed her cheek before pulling up and smiling again, "Goodnight, Taylor."

For the rest of the night, her cheek burned where his lips had been.


	5. As we take you through this funky rap!

H-H-H...Here we go!

So they're finally here, performing for you

If you know the words, you can join in too

Put your hands together if you want to clap

As we take you through this fun-ky rap! HUH

It's the little bits of irony, or humor, which make an early start to a day bearable. Those moments make it possible for Taylor McKessie not to wake up every morning at four and think, "I really hate this." This morning, the irony that hit Taylor as she was unlocking the front door to her apartment, her warm up jacket blowing in the chilly morning air, Gabriella humming a song from the other side of the door, was that She was coming home, done for the day, as Gabriella was waking up to get ready for hers. She chuckled a little at sad, sad fact and shoved the door open.

Gabriella was already preparing breakfast for the two of them. Taylor sat down on a stool as Gabriella slid a half a bagel with cream cheese and grapes towards her. "You and Chad," Gabriella sighed as she unscrewed a gallon of orange juice and poured it into a cup, "You two let me make a prediction. You two will get married."

Taylor rolled her eyes as she stole the cup of orange juice and took a sip. She had made a silent bet with herself that it would take ten minutes before Gabriella brought up the Chad subject…turns out it would only take ten seconds.

"I have a boyfriend. And Chad and I are just friends," she thought back to them, sitting on his couch in his apartment, just talking like they had known each other forever. She reflexively touched her cheek where he had kissed her, and part of her wished that hadn't been all. The other part of her felt guilty for thinking that. She did have a boyfriend, and Chad was an amazing guy, was it really that smart to complicate something that was so easy between them?

"A boyfriend that you haven't talked to since the night of the game, and a guy who you have been texting nonstop," Gabriella pointed out, smirking, while she took the juice back and put it on the counter behind them. Taylor glared at her back, and when she turned around, she met Taylor's glare with another smirk.

"We have not been texting nonstop," Taylor argued. Her phone vibrated on the table next to them. She picked it up as Gabriella beamed a smile of triumph. She flipped it open, and couldn't help but smile when she saw it was from him. Her stomach got all fluttery as she opened it and saw Chad saying good morning.

"Ok," she said still smiling like a junior high teenager, "That was just bad timing." She looked up at Gabriella; her face still framed with that smile Gabriella had taken note, was only there when Chad was being mentioned.

"I saw that smile, Taylor, you really like him. Why can't you just admit it?" Gabriella threw her arms into the air. She didn't understand how Taylor could be so blind, or stubborn, to the fact that Chad and she were absolutely perfect for each other. She had never seen two people fit together so seamlessly. It was like all the steps that they had taken in their life had led to that moment. Of course, she was biased, but she ignored that fact.

"Because," Taylor said, searching blindly for the right words, "I- I don't know…I have a boyfriend!" Was all she could think of?

"You are in denial. Dump that jerk, we both know he is no good for you."

"I never ever said that." Taylor said, entering defensive mode.

"Well then I said it for you. It's true, he is horrible for you. He is disrespectful, pushy, mean, and must I mention he is only around here when he is drunk?"

"Nope, no need to mention." Taylor said, getting annoyed as she held her face in her hand and stared up at Gabriella

"K, well too late. And you haven't talked to him since the game night. "

"He just hasn't texted me." That was a lie. There was a total of 37 un-answered text messages from Cody in her inbox at the moment. She just couldn't bring herself to care enough to answer any of them. She figured it served him right, being such a jerk. It was about time she showed him that he couldn't treat her that way. However with Gabriella pointing out that she hadn't talked to him at all, she felt she should talk to him. Maybe they would go out tonight.

"Well, good. Maybe he will dump you. At this point I don't care, as long as he is out of here," Gabriella said glaring at the thought, "Actually you need to dump him first, you can't get canned by someone as sleazy as that." She grabbed her book bag and started to head out the door.

"Hey G, tell me how you are really feeling. I feel like you are holding back on your emotions." Taylor retorted sarcastically as she turned, facing her friend.

"I hate you." Gabriella said, sticking her tongue out as she turned the knob to their door.

"HAVE FUN IN DISSECTING A CAT TODAY!" Taylor yelled, remembering Gabriella's class. Gabriella was an all around animal lover, but she had a special place in her hearts for cats.

Gabriella turned around, her lower lip puckered like she had just remembered something that totally disgusted her "YOU WOULD, YOU WOULD FEED OFF THE FACT THAT I LOVE CATS AND I HAVE TO RIP ONE OPEN TODAY! I HATE YOU!" she slammed the door dramatically and Taylor laughed so hard she had to clutch her stomach to keep her abs from cramping up. Served Gabriella right, medling in things that weren't her business. Like her fragile relationship with Cody, and her even more fragile relationship with Chad.

Taylor mused over those two problems in her head as she began her chores. She marched around the apartment in nothing but a sports bra and spandex, cleaning the already clean kitchen, re arranging the movies, doing a few loads of laundry. She was trying to be productive. Trying to stop herself from texting Cody. That planned failed and next thing she knew, she was calling him, making up some lie about not being able to find her phone, or it being broken, she couldn't remember by the end of the conversation. All she knew was that they were actually going out tonight. Deep down, she knew she shouldn't. She was well aware that she should run in slow motion on a beach towards Chad. But a bigger part of her felt she didn't deserve that. That she just was not good enough for someone as amazing as Chad. There was no way in her mind that she could ever see someone like Chad; someone so good, and amazing, and kind, with someone like Taylor. The equations just didn't balance out. It just didn't make sense. She frowned at the thought as she folded one of Gabriella's shirts. She yawned as she did so, trying to stay positive about the night out. Maybe he would be nice like he used to be, they would actually have a good time.

She picked up a dress that she didn't recognize, although she somehow knew it was hers. It was red and tight fitting, it went down to mid thigh. Curious and confused, she slipped it on, it was definitely hers. It fit perfectly. Yet she knew she had never bought it. It clung to her curves in the perfect places. She shook her hair out of the messy pony tail it was in and could only assume the result was a major case of sex hair. There were three sharp, urgent knocks on the door and Taylor turned her head curiously towards the entrance to her apartment. She walked over, and opened. The sun was falling over the mountains creating a crimson, orange, and pink wave effect through the thin clouds. Standing in her doorway was Chad. He was in his uniform, minus the hat and pulled back hair, and he was giving her the strangest expression as he held out a pizza in his hand. She looked at him confused, "Chad, I didn't order any pizza."

She then was able to place the look he was giving to her. It was need, hunger, whatever you want to call it. It was there and it was dominant as he dropped the pizza and pressed her body against her door frame. His lips were on hers before she had time to properly react. But once the burning started, she had no choice in her reactions. She knotted her fingers in his hair, curling her fingers and tugging, pulling his face down closer to hers. He crushed his body to her curves in reaction, moaning through his lips as she hands roamed up and down her sides. Her heart was beating so hard she could feel it rattling her rib cage. She was filled with a burning desire so strong it was like fire under her nerves, under her finger tips, under her lips as they moved passionately with his. It was all moving so quickly, so unexpectedly, her head wasn't working right, so her body took over. All she could feel was him, all she could taste was him, all she wanted was him. As if he could hear her thoughts, his strong, big hands started to travel up her outer thigh, moving her dress up slowly.

She opened her eyes wide, as they focused she saw the speckle on the ceiling. She sat up slowly, realizing that she had used the pile of clean laundry as a pillow.

"Well, that was the most awkward dream ever."

She shook her hair, now knotted and half falling out of the pony tail. Standing up slowly, her joints cracked and she stretched out her sore muscles. Pre season was almost over, their first meet a few days away. She was looking forward to not having five AM practices Monday through Thursday. She walked slowly into the kitchen, pulling cheese out of the fridge. A yawn escaped as she grabbed the chips and quickly made some nachos, popping them into the microwave. She then trudged into her room, examining herself in the mirror. Her eyes were red from sleeping in her contacts, her shirt was incredibly wrinkled. She took out her hair tie, shaking her head back and forth as she heard the door open and Gabriella come home from her class. She glanced up at the mirror again. Her hair resembled more of lion's mane than anything else. She smiled at her reflections, finding it amusing that her hair was about four feet in diameter, not including her head. She growled a little, laughed and decided to leave it as she waltzed back into the kitchen. Popped open the microwave, and her nachos were gone.

"What the--"

She heard the crunch of a chip going into someone's mouth. She glanced over to see Troy, curled up on her couch, chip halfway into his mouth, staring at her with big, blue, innocent eyes.

"Hey, T," he said slowly, "You…make good nachos?" His face looked so guilty. Like that child that didn't expect his mom to come in while he was eating the cake she had made for the next day. Taylor didn't even care, she wasn't that hungry, but his face was priceless. She rolled her eyes and laughed. He took this as a sign that it was ok to keep eating, his shoulders relaxed as he started shoveling nachos into his mouth three at a time.

"Roo ook like ell by fu way," he said through his food.

"You're disgusting," Taylor replied and hopped onto the couch next to him, pulling her legs up to her chest, and taking a chip. He gave her a glare.

"They are mine," Taylor said, glaring back. "And is Gabriella not here?" She asked, glancing around for her bubbly best friend. She had thought it was her coming in earlier.

"I was kind of hoping you could answer that for me."

She shrugged, "Hmm, guess not. I guess that was you that came in just now?" she asked, pointing behind her, towards the front door.

"Yup," he said simply, shoving another four in his mouth. You could see the outline of a chip sticking out of his cheek.

"I hope you choke."

He swallowed and looked at her, "I wasn't kidding, you look horrible."

"Thanks, Troy, you really know how to make a girl look beautiful," She said shaking her head back and forth again, making her hair bigger. Strand of it whipped him in the face and he had to hold his greasy hands up to protect himself.

"Cut that out you look amazing," he yelped, shielding his face and she whipped her hair around again, "OW! I said amazing stop it!" She giggled, but stopped and played with a few strands of her hair.

"Just curious," said, leaning over and taking another chip, "Why are you hear?"

"Gabriella and I have a date tonight," he replied, smiling.

"You're going to spoil your meal if you eat all of those. I don't mind taking them off your hands," She said, smiling as she reached for the plate. Troy got it out of her reach in no time, shooting her a glare, "I'll always have room for nachos."

She crossed her arms and changed the channel away from sports center to the cw, seeing if anything good was on.

"I was watching that!" Troy complained

"You get either the nachos or the TV, not both," Taylor retorted. They were joking around, being childish, it was how they always acted around each other. Over the past couple months Taylor had come to think of Troy as a big brother, though she had plenty of those at home.

He grumbled some complaint, but seemed content with his choice of food. After a few nachos, however, he glanced around the room.

"So where is the game system?"

"The what?" Taylor asked, a look of confusion spread across her dark face.

"You know, x box, wii," he said, staring at her, when he saw no reaction he continued slower, "Playstation….Nintendo 64?"

Her face quickly registered once he said play station, and look of disgust replaced her confusion, "Ugh, you mean video games? I don't touch the things."

It felt like someone had stabbed his chest, he was insulted and deeply hurt by that comment. "Did you just say you don't touch video games?" He was in disbelief, he continued to look around, maybe she was joking. No one hated video games. He put down his plate of nachos so he could fully examine the room. He stood up, this was unbelievable.

"They are so gross, such a waste of time, and boring."

"LA LA," Troy said, covering his ears, "I am NOT hearing this!"

Taylor cackled as Troy glared at her, "You cannot be serious," he said, delivering the death stare, "No video games? Not even some DK on the N64?"

"Some what?"

"OH MY GOD!" This was hurting him inside. "You know _DK, DONKEY KONG, He's the leader of the bunch, you know him well, he's finally back, to kick some tail._"

Taylor stared at him blankly, "Did you just rap about a video game?"

"Oh COME ON!" Troy yelled desperately, "Everyone knows the DK rap, there is something for everyone. There is even a donkey kong character for you!"

"Oh really," Taylor said, her face amused but utterly unimpressed. Troy was now in nerd mood, she related to this, but she was on a different level, she didn't nerd out to games. He knew this, but it was too late, he was out of the Donkey Closet.

"This Kongs got style, so listen up dudes, she can shrink in size, to fit her mood!" He was dancing, moving to the beat, pointing at Taylor like she was Tiny Kong. She had started to laugh at him at he started dancing around the couch, "She's quick and nimble, when she needs to be, she can fly through the air, and climb up trees-- This is where you would do a flip or something Taylor," he said quickly before continuing, "If you choose her, you'll not choose wrong, with a skip and a hop, she's ONE TOUGH KONG!" He said, finishing and posing right in front of her coffee table. She was laughing so hard at this point, her eyes were closed shut and she was doubled over, clutching her stomach.

"I don't…" she started, breathing heavily as she tried to calm down, "Get to say this often but…You're such a nerd!"

He hmmphhed before sitting back down, grabbing his nachos in disbelief, "It's like we are on a whole different level," he said deeply, "We can no longer relate."

"Oh, God," Taylor said dramatically, "This is so upsetting."

"Shut up," Troy whined, bitter that he had just waisted a good rendition of two verses in the DK rap, Anthony would have sang along with him. They sat there, no words between them. Only the sound of Troy munching and Taylor chuckling in remembrance of the performance she had just been given. Finally she calmed down, thought it took a few minutes. He kept shooting her glares. She should not be laughing, she was a nerd too…just a different kind. He decided it was time to embarrass her.

"So how is Chad?" he asked, a little too curious.

"You would know better than me, he is your roommate," Taylor retorted, keeping her eyes purposely placed on the TV screen.

"He doesn't talk to me anymore, he is too busy texting you."

"We do not text all the time," Taylor was a horrible liar, and it showed right through her face as she clutched her phone a little tighter.

"You do too!" Troy said, getting pretty passionate about the conversation, "I've lost a friend! I could say anything and it wouldn't faze him, he's too busy talking to you." he practically yelled, throwing his hands up in the air.

"That is not true," Taylor said, rolling her eyes.

"Yesterday I walked by and said, 'Hey Chad, I have cancer' Do you know what he said!?"

She rolled her eyes again, "What did he say, Troy, tell me."

"Cool." he said slowly, "HE SAID COOL!" he screamed, almost knocking over his nachos. He gasped and grabbed at them. Petting them lightly: he didn't want them to think he didn't love them.

"Troy you don't actually have cancer." Taylor said, watching in weird curiosity the scene playing out before her.

"Yes, but does he know that? No."

"He was probably just doing it on purpose to make you angry."

"No he is probably so into you that he can't seem to focus on anything else."

Taylor's cheeks grew hot and she glared at him, stealing a fist full of nachos.

"Hey!" he protested as she ate them.

"I need to take a shower," she said, casually changing the subject.

"Why?" Troy asked smiling, "I kind of like the whole lions main thing, it suits you."

"Why because I'm queen of the jungle?"

"I was going more for large and in charge," he said smirking as she recoiled and hit him in the arm, "Own, god Taylor you hit like a man."

She stood up, "Well that's what happens when you're large and in charge, ass hole."

He laughed as she glared at him before walking back into her room to go take a shower. He wondered why she had to, I mean, it was only him, no need to impress. Although he did put a lot of pressure on the ladies. He laughed quietly at himself as she texted Gabriella, wondering where she was. Maybe traffic was bad. He sighed and changed the channel back to sports channel. Checking to see the scores of the other colleges. They were ranked 30, his goal was to be top 25 by the end of the season. He heard a knock at the door. He knew it wasn't Gabriella, considering she wouldn't have knocked. Unless her hands were full. That had Troy jogging to the door, he was already excited at the prospect of Gabriella being at the door, he hadn't seen in a few days, he missed her. He took a deep breath before he opened the door, and to his dismay it was Cody.

"Ung," she grunted in response to Troy. Troy had never met Cody, though he had listened patiently to Gabriella as she went off about him basically everyday on the phone. And he had heard what he had done to Taylor the night of the party, so he already didn't like the guy. You don't just do that to your girlfriend. He would never do that to Gabriella, if she had called him hurt he would have been speeding down the road to get to her. He noted in the back of his head that Chad would do the same for Taylor, and he had just met her. He was pretty sure Taylor deserved way better than Cody, but being Troy, he had to get to know him for himself, and he wanted to see the good in him, so he stuck out his hand, "Hey I'm Troy," he said kindly. Cody ignored his hand and moved past him with another grunt of acknowledgment.

"Where is Taylor?" He asked rudely, he then spun on his heels to face Troy, "You're not with her are you?" he asked suspiciously. Troy's face scrunched in, well, disgust. Taylor was like his sister. "No man," he said simply.

"You're not with that loudmouth cunt are you?"

Troy's palms grew hot with anger, his neck pulsed as his blood started to rush. Did he really just have the audacity to say that?

"Actually," he said trying to steady his voice, "I am. And her name is Gabriella, and she is very nice."

"Huh, that's unfortunate," he said with finality as he wondered into the kitchen. For him, the conversation was over. Troy had to hold still and breathe for a few minutes to calm himself down. If he kept talking to him, he would end up fighting. Gabriella was the sweetest, most beautiful girl (inside and out) that he had ever met, and this guy had just walked in, and with no inhibitions, insulted her. If this was Chad, a fist fight would have broken out, Chad was a lot more aggressive than Troy was, but Troy was passive. So he stuck his hands in his pockets and fumed. He decided to distract himself by sitting down and watching TV. He turned it up and kept fuming, brooding, all around hating Cody. How was Taylor with him? Cody waddled his huge body over and sat down on the same couch, taking the controller and changing it without asking. Troy had to hold his breath to keep from screaming. He hated this guy. The guy had not said more than two sentences to him and he already hated him. How did Taylor even hesitate to choose between Chad and him? This guy was the world's biggest tool! He opened his mouth to speak when the door knob rotated, and Gabriella peeked through the door, carrying her book bag over her shoulder. Her face was slightly down turned and Troy instantly forgot about Cody and got up to go to her. He walked over to her quickly, escaping the negative energy seeping from the couch. A look of concern spread over his face as he wrapped his arms around her, "Hey Brie, what's wrong?" He enveloped her in a hug and kissed her forehead.

"I just…" she said quickly, like she was trying to stop the emotion from overflowing out of her mouth, "I just had to dissect…" she stopped again, disgusted, "…A kitty!" she finished as she put her head in his chest and wrapped her arms around him tightly. He couldn't help but smile a little as he held her in his arms. She was so cute, and it was just a cat. He ran his fingers through her hair in the back, "It's ok Gabriella."

"No it's not!" she wailed, "The poor cat was staring at me the whole time!"

"Aww, honey," he said, wrapping his arms around her tighter, "I'll take you to ice cream, how does that sound?" he asked, kissing her lips lightly.

She stared down, thinking about it for a few moments before nodding pathetically, "Ok," she said. He wanted to just hold her, she sounded so cute right now. He felt her wrap her arms around his neck, and give him another hug. He held her extra tight, she was so amazing, so incredibly kind in these moments. He could only guess that she had looked over his shoulder when she saw him, "Hey, Cody," she said flatly. He had the urge to block her from him, to protect her, something about him just didn't ring as right to Troy.

Cody grunted in response as Gabriella rolled her eyes. She separated from Troy, running her hands down his forearms. He got butterflies (manly monarchs of course) in his stomach as she looked at him. "Give me two seconds," she said quietly, "I'm going to go say bye to Tay, then we can leave."

She reached up and kissed his cheek before walking towards Taylor's room. He tapped his fingers on the table, back to Cody so he didn't say anything to him. Soon Gabriella's hand was on his back, letting him know she was ready. He took her hand, wrapping his fingers around hers, giving it a squeeze and kissing the back of her hand before they walked out of the apartment.

They were not two steps out of the apartment when Troy turned to Gabriella, "Ok, I am so down for operation Chad and Taylor."

Gabriella looked up, beaming at him, "Hello my personal secret agent. What made you change your mind?"

He thought back to Taylor and him just hanging out, how fun she was, she had quickly become one of his good friends, even if she didn't like video games. He made a mental note to tell Chad that. He thought of her as a little sister. Then he thought of Cody. What a fucking douche bag he was. The things he had said about Gabriella, he can't be much nicer about Taylor. People like that didn't deserve people like Taylor or Gabriella in their lives. "I don't know," He said, "He just rubs me the wrong way." Even thinking about the fact that Cody was in the apartment with Taylor made him want to go back and protect her too. He just wasn't…right. He couldn't explain it. It was not the fact that he said rude things about Gabriella; it was something more than that. He didn't like the idea of Taylor being alone with him, but at the same time wanted to get Gabriella as far away from him, as quickly as he could. He tried to tell himself that he was just being a defensive boyfriend, possessive even, but he knew that wasn't it.

"So does this mean you'll help me get them together?" Gabriella asked, staring up at him with those deep brown eyes. She seemed to have cheered up from her cat episode. Plotting seemed to have gotten her mind off of it. He wanted to distract from it as long as possible, he hated seeing her upset.

"Yes, I'll help you."

"Good! I already have this whole thing planned out." she said excitedly before diving right into her plan. He listened closely the rest of the night as Gabriella let him in on how Chad and Taylor were going to get together.


	6. It's you and me and all other people

**a/n: HEy guys! Thanks for being patient while I went through that lame hiatus thing. School is getting ridiculous and i need to focus on passing my classes so I can graduate haha! Anyway, thanks for your reviews last chapter. I wasn't really expecting many since it was such a transition chapter. And sorry about the lame lyric, I looked forever but there are no adequate song lyrics about really good friends ranting to each other. It just doesn't get written about. So I went in context with it. So thank you, please enjoy, and please review!**

**-Nora**

* * *

_there's something about you now__  
__I can't quite figure out__  
__everything she does is beautiful__  
__everything she does is right_

_you and me and all of the people__  
__with nothing to do__  
__nothing to lose__  
__and it's you and me and all of the people__  
__and I don't know why__  
__I can't keep my eyes off of you_

Chad was sitting on his bed, needing concentration for his anatomy test. This class was all about the tests and the labs and he was determined to get an A. It was funny how his grades had turned around once he figured out what he had wanted to do. He had barely graduated high school and now, here he was, determined to maintain his 4.0. He knew the stuff by heart, backwards and forwards, but he didn't want to chance it. He was shuffling his notes from one hand to the other, trying to check his answer for a question when, as luck would have it, Troy came strutting in, complete with seven month old hyper border collie, Lil Jonathon. Troy plopped down on the huge bean bag chair and Lil Jonathon jumped into his lap like he was a lap dog, his bright blue eyes that made Troy's look like nothing special stared at Chad. He had never had a dog that just stared, and loved to be stared back at. Sometimes it was a little unnerving.

The dog had been bought by Troy and Chad together. It was smart, fast, and they both loved it, but they couldn't decide on a name. Chad had wanted something "thug" and attempted to name it G-Money, Lil Wayne, and Snoop Dog. Troy however had put his foot down on the gangster names. They had fought for hours:

"Troy we are not naming our dog REGIS! THAT IS A HUMANS NAME!"

"I refuse to walk around with a dog named SNOOP DOG, YOU ARE NOT A GANGSTER CHAD, YOU LIVED IN ALBEQUERQUE, IN THE WHITEST NEIGHBOORHOOD…YOU HAD A MANSION BASICALLY."

"Regis, though, really? That dog will get his lunch money stolen!"

"Not true, Regis is a respectable name, for a respectable dog."

The fight had been gone for a week before their roommate Anthony stepped in after basketballs had been popped and pudding had been sabotaged. He brought up the fact that they could each name half of the dog. It had ended a bitter fight that had lasted weeks. So they threw in their prospects and glared at each other as they drew it out of a hat. The end result: Lil Jonathon.

"What's up, Troy?" Chad asked, lifting his eyes only slightly to acknowledge Troy's presence.

"We are going to the movies." He said matter of factly, rhythmically stroking Lil Jonathon's fur.

"I can't," Chad said, not looking up from his papers this time, "I have to study."

"What is it?" Troy asked, craning his neck to see the notes. This caused Jonathon to put a paw in his face for not paying attention to him. "Oomph," Troy helped and pushed the paw off of him, putting the dog in a head lock.

"Anatomy," Chad answered, still determined to not be distracted. He couldn't help but look up when Troy laughed at him. "What?" he asked impatiently.

"I could help you study if you would like," Troy said with a coy smile, winking.

"Shut the fuck up," Chad said laughing as he threw a book at Troy, which he swatted away.

"Oh sorry, I know you would much rather have Taylor help you study. OOHHHHH" He said, putting Jonathon in between him and Chad so something else didn't get thrown.

Chad glared, "You can leave now!"

"No, no, she would be totally up for it." Troy exclaimed, changing his voice into a girly one, "Oh Chad, of course I would love to help you study. Is it getting hot in here? I think I'd be more comfortable with my shirt off," Troy starting to sensually lift his shirt off, Lil Jon crawled out of his lap in time for Chad to throw another book, hitting him right in the gut."

"Ahhrggg!" Troy yelped, clutching his stomach.

"You're an ass hole," Chad said, laughing.

"Fuck you, man," Troy said, putting his shirt back down and rubbing his stomach, "So will you come to the movies?"

"Troy, I told you I have a huge test tomorrow morning at 8."

"Come on, man," Troy seemed to be begging, Chad looked up, suspicious.

"Why?"

"Because…I just want to go to the movies!"

Chad set down his papers, he stared intently at Troy. He was hiding something, and he knew it. He had been with this guy since they were both in diapers, he could read him like a book.

"Troy, we have not just 'gone to the movies' in four years. By ourselves anyway. Why the sudden change of heart?" he had abandoned all study tactics and was studying Troy's face.

"Can't I just want to spend some time with my bro?" Troy asked innocently.

"You are not allowed to call me bro after you named our dog Jonathon." Chad said shortly.

"It's a classy name!" Troy exclaimed.

"You are a faggot." Chad said simply.

Troy sighed, "K then, will you be my gay date to the movies?"

"NO!" Chad yelled, "Bring Gabriella!"

Troy looked down, playing with the button on his shirt. Chad couldn't tell if he had given up, or if he was thinking. He sat there waiting.

"Look, man,' Troy said, his head staying down, "Gabriella and I got in a little fight, so she isn't coming to our game today and I just wanted a distraction for after."

Chad stared his friend down; he still wasn't looking at him. He wondered why, and gathered that he just must be upset. But he found it odd that he and Gabriella fought, they had never in the history of their relationship so much as disagreed. It was almost unnatural.

"Why did you guys fight?" Chad asked, not that he really cared, but he was now curious.

Troy paused, opened his mouth, and closed it again.

"I don't want to talk about it man." Troy said dramatically, flinging his arms helplessly into the air.

Chad stared at Troy. This look had always made Troy uncomfortable. Chad always had an intense stare. He fought the urge to squirm.

"Ok fine, I'll go to the movies with you after the game."

"Thanks man!" sounding a little too happy for someone who just admitted that his girlfriend and him were fighting. Chad was suspicious, Troy and Gabriella did not fight.

"Come on, T," Gabriella begged, "Just come to the movies with me!"

"Gabriella, I don't think you understand me," Taylor answered, speaking slowly, "I have my first meet today!"

"That isn't going to go that late, it starts at one, come on!"

"No, I'm going to be tired after, and I am going to breakfast with Cody in the morning and helping him study for his calc exam." That wasn't as hard as she was making it out to be. He had gotten into Stanford after all, he was not an idiot.

"Taylor, come on, we never do anything together." Gabriella exclaimed pathetically, taking Taylors hand.

"G…we live together." Taylor pushed her hand away and started rummaging through their fridge. They seriously needed to go shopping.

"Yes but that is not the same, we just bump into each other throughout the day, we don't hang out. You're always busy with gymnastics," she explained, holding her hands up defensively as soon as that came out of her mouth, "Not that I don't understand how busy you are and that they practically own you but this is the start of your season, and tomorrow is your first morning off since a week before school started. Celebrate! Let's have a girl's night, just the two of us. Troy has a late game tonight and I wanted to take the chance to just…I don't know, have some girl time! Is that really so bad?" she said loudly to draw Taylors attention away from the fridge

Taylor sighed, she had a point. It was her first morning off tomorrow, and she should celebrate. The fall season sucked, and she deserved to raise a glass…or a ticket stub, to the fact that she didn't have to wake up that early until next fall.

"Fine," Taylor said exasperated, "I'll go with you to the movies."

Gabriella lept out of the stool she had been sitting on and enveloped Taylor in a hug, "Oh, thank you, T!" she said, grinning from ear to ear. Taylor looked at her like she was insane. It was just a movie, no need to get all worked up. Maybe they hadn't hung out in way too long.

Gabriella coughed awkwardly, "Anyway, I'll be watching at your match today! Good luck!" And as quickly as the conversation had started, it ended with Gabriella walking out the door to go to her class.

Taylor walked quickly through the rain with Gabriella towards the theatre. It was chilly and she had forgotten her good coat by the door, so she only had a light jacket on.

"I'm freezing," Taylor whined as she avoided a puddle.

"You should have thought of that before letting your chest hang out tonight and then not wearing a proper jacket," Gabriella retorted.

Taylor stared at her opened mouthed, in disbelief, "You practically shoved this shirt over my head! I didn't even want to wear it! And I forgot my jacket because you were shoving me out the door mumbling madness about how I was going to make us late!" she said, struggling to keep up with Gabriella's speed walk. Her legs were sore from her meet today. It didn't help that she was in heels.

Gabriella shrugged as they finally got under the cover of the front of the theatre, "A technicality," she answered as she stood under the cover, looking out into the parking lot. Taylor stared at her for a few seconds before finally saying, "Well? Aren't we going to buy tickets?"

"Shhh," Gabriella said, not meeting Taylor's eyes, "I love the sound of rain hitting asphalt."

Chad walked quickly through the rain with Troy towards the theatre.

"Dude, slow down, my legs are sore from having to jump for all your missed shots tonight!"

Troy shot him a look that said, don't even start. Chad chuckled. Everyone has an off night. Troy's was tonight. They had won either way, no big deal.

"I just don't want to be late for the movie," Troy said, walking a little faster, glancing at his phone to check the time.

"Dude, the movie doesn't start for ten minutes, we are fine."

"I want to get good seats," He explained.

"The movie has been out for a month, it's not exactly going to be sold out," Chad answered as he finally got his head under the cover at the theatre. He shook his head, his curls releasing the water they had managed to hold, which was a lot. He didn't realize that Troy had stopped walking, and he found himself colliding with something small, short was more like it. He thought he might have run into a parking meter when he remembered he was under the cover of the theatre…and what he ran into stumbled back. He instinctively reached out, grabbing whatever it was around what turned out to be a waist.

He glanced up, and his breathe caught in his chest; it was Taylor.

She looked even more beautiful than he remembered, and her hair seemed to glisten due to the small droplets of rain that were clinging to her long, loose curls. She also seemed a little taller. He assumed that meant her ankle was better, and she was probably wearing some pretty high heels. He also realized that her skin radiated the cold through her too thin clothing that she was wearing; he could practically feel the goose bumps through her sweater. He had the urge to pull her in, to hold her in his arms. He had to shake himself out of that image; he lost control too easily around her. Caught up in his thoughts, it took him a moment longer to realize, she was not supposed to be here. And as he looked to his left and saw Troy and Gabriella staring at the two of them with guilty expressions, he assumed she was thinking the same thing about him.

"Troy," Gabriella said, a fake tone of surprise dripping from her lips, "what are you doing here!?" Gabriella had no future as an actress. Her corny, fake, surprise dripped off her face like the raindrops

Taylor looked at her lame friend, "Is this real?" she said in a monotone, slightly annoyed.

"This is a coincidence!" Gabriella exclaimed, flinging out her hands in an attempt to seem more realistic.

Taylor turned to Chad, who was watching her; she noted his hands were still around her waist. He realized this at the same time and pulled them away awkwardly.

"Did you have any idea about this?" Taylor said, looking up at Chad.

He held his hands up defensively, "No clue."

She believed him; he looked sincere…and really cute. She shot him a shy smile before glaring at Gabriella and Troy, "You guys planned this?" she asked, looking at Troy. He crossed his arms and his face took on a pouting look.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time," Troy said shortly. He was obviously annoyed with something. She looked from Gabriella to Chad. Gabriella looked just as confused as hers but Chad was smirking slightly.

"Troy is a little upset. Bad game," he said smiling at her.

Taylor laughed, "Get over it, Troy."

"I hate you."

Everyone laughed, and Gabriella uncrossed Troy's arms before they all got into the ticket line. The boys were in front of them and told the teller that they needed four tickets. They turned around, handing Taylor and Gabriella the stubs.

"Oh," Taylor said, looking down at hers, "I was going to pay."

"No big deal," Chad said, giving her a smile, "You owe me."

They walked into the theatre; Taylor noticed Troy and Gabriella keeping their distance. She wondered if that was because they wanted time alone or they wanted Chad and her to have time alone. She looked up at the very tall guy walking beside her. He really was attractive. She could smell his body wash or cologne or whatever. She loved how guys smelt when they tried. It was one of their best qualities. She rubbed her burning hands on her hips as she walked with him.

He seemed to sense her stare and looked down at her. She couldn't just sit there, caught in the act, so she reached out for a topic, "Game tonight?"

"Yeah, why didn't Gabriella come? She is usually at ours."

Taylor smiled, "Because she knows how to prioritize."

His scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, "I don't understand."

Taylor laughed at his adorable expression and her own little joke, "I had a meet today, and she went to watch me. It was our first home one." Gabriella had been the most obnoxious fan there. She had even made a huge sign and coerced other people into helping her hold it.

"Oh! Really?" Chad asked genuine interest spreading all over his face. She couldn't help, again, comparing him to Cody, who had not even so much as texted her to ask her how it went. He had texted her twice in the last hour demanding to know where she was. He was always like that, always had to know what she was doing. It was kind of weird. Out of spite she had started lying to him. He thought she was out with the gymnastics girls tonight. She didn't get it; he had been so nice a couple nights ago on their date. Now he was back to being a jerk again. She shook herself out of it; she seemed to be whining about that a lot lately. Maybe she was asking too much.

She smiled up at Chad, "Ya, Our first one, it went well. We won so our coach was happy."

"Ya it really doesn't take much to make coaches happy you know?" He said as they walked into the line at the concessions stand. Troy and Gabriella walked right on past into the movies. Taylor looked on toward her best friend.

"Uh…I hope they don't forget we are here," she said, eyeing them.

"Ya, I thought this was supposed to be about us together!" Chad said, feigning hurt feelings, clearly joking as he grinned down at her. She laughed and shook her head, "When Gabriella gets an idea, she doesn't stop until she makes it happen."

He shrugged, "There are worse qualities in a person."

"Ya, it looks like she managed to pull Troy into it too."

"Well," Chad said, glancing in Troy and Gabriella's direction as they walked through the shadowed doors of the theatre, "I'm pretty sure she could get him to do anything. He is insane when it comes to her."

"I think it's cute," Taylor said smiling.

"Well…I mean, cute isn't the word I would use, but I guess I could agree.

"Would your word start with a W and end with an IPPED?"

He smiled as he told the concession teller he wanted a popcorn and a soda, "Ya, it sounds something like that. What kind of soda do you want."

"You chose, I don't really drink it anyway."

"Ok," he turned to the guy and got a sierra mist, "Want anything else?"

"No, I'm okay, thanks."

Chad paid and handed Taylor the popcorn as they walked towards the theatre.

"I hope they at least remembered to get seats for us too," Chad said as they walked side by side through the wide double doors into the dark theatre. Taylor searched through the darkness, finding Gabriella waving at her from one of the top rows. They quickly joined them as Chad sat next to Taylor, who sat next to Gabriella and then Troy on the end.

Chad sat there, stealing glances at Taylor every once in a while. It had been a little while since they had last seen each other. They had, however, been texting a lot. He didn't know what that meant. Was she into him? Because he had heard from Troy she was still with the one guy, what was his name? Charlie? Casey? Stacy? Motherfuckingbitch? Yep, that one. Anyway, she was just confusing. And it didn't help that every time he was with her he was just nervous, and sometimes out of breath, and she intimidated him a little bit. I mean, people just don't get into Stanford. Things like that don't happen every day. He wanted to know how she did it. Was it self motivation? Or were her parents the type that accepted nothing but A's. Or was she just that student who never had to try and still was top of the class. He found himself insanely curious about that, about her life back…where ever she had come from. He found it odd that he didn't know. He should know this stuff.

"Where are you from?" he whispered before he could stop himself.

"What?" she asked, tearing her eyes away from the screen where previews were playing and leaning towards Chad to hear better, their shoulders brushing each others.

"Where are you from? I never asked you," he said looking straight into her eyes. She had never seen someone who seemed to be such a devoted listener. It was like his eyes were piercing into her, sorting through her own thoughts.

"I'm from Florida," she answered, trying to stare like him.

"You went from one ocean to the other?" he asked, finding it slightly amusing. She could have gone towards Yale or Princeton, where she would experience a totally different atmosphere.

"I went from too much humidity to perfect weather. I love it here. I hate humidity. You feel wet all the time."

"That's what she said," Troy said, leaning over into their conversation. Taylor reached over and smacked him as he recoiled back to Gabriella.

"Shhh!" the suggestion came from the row in front where a middle aged woman was watching the movie by herself.

"Excuse me?" Taylor said, attitude dripping from her lips.

"I said shh," the woman said, slightly turning.

"Oh please, it's the previews. Sorry I interrupted you perving over Zac Efron, he's a little too young for you."

The woman turned back to the screen with a huff and Gabriella added a, "YA BITCH" before all order was restored. Chad had to muffle some laughter but managed to bring the conversation back.

"Is it hard being so far away from home?" Chad asked, the last of his smile fading slowly from his face.

"Nah, I was the youngest of three. But my older siblings are both in their late twenties. So they were out of the house long before me. It gave my parents an excuse to keep a watchful eye on me. I needed the freedom. Plus, I'm not that close to my parents. And they aren't that close to me."

That was a foreign concept to Chad. He was the third of seven kids in his family. He had about one hundred and twenty cousins, 27 aunts and uncles, both sets of grandparents were still alive, and they were all extremely close. It was weird for him to be in a different state. But the drive home to Phoenix was not too bad. And they made a point of all coming up for a couple games a year. It made the already packed stadium sell out.

"You're not close to your parents?" it came out more shocked sounding than he had meant. And she noticed. She smiled at him, "They work all the time. My dad is a lawyer and my mom is a neurologist. So I never really saw them, and when I did they were just making sure my grades were good and that I was not doing anything that could jeopardize my college dreams. They were basically there to discipline and send me on my way." She shrugged, "I mean…I don't resent them for it or anything, but I that is not how I would raise a family."

"So what do you want to be?" Chad asked.

"A psychologist," she answered, chewing and swallowing some popcorn before she continued, "I have always wanted to know why people do what they do, why they act a certain way. It's fascinating. Either that, or I would love to own a small café," she finished, smiling at Chad again. He seemed to notice she was always quick to flash a grin. She seemed to be an all around good spirited woman?

"Shh," came from the front again and Chad had to hold Taylor back to keep her from going off again. He didn't realize that just his touch was enough to distract Taylor from anything. She relaxed into his touch and reeled herself back into their conversation.

"So you like to analyze people?" he asked.

"Yes I do, people watching is a serious hobby of mine."

"Noticed anything about me in particular?"

"Nothing worth sharing with you yet, but when I gather enough I'll let you know," she said, grinning playfully at him. He laughed and turned back towards the screen. She did the same as she reached over and took a long sip out of his soda. The scene was dark and a deep organ was playing in the background. Uh oh. Taylor didn't do well with scary movies. They were a serious weakness of hers. She didn't want Chad to know, it was slightly embarrassing, and she silently thanked God that the sight of blood on screen didn't bother her.

The pendulum was swinging dangerously close to the man's chest. It was making her so nervous. Her hand tensed and she slowly snaked her fingers around Chad's forearm. She felt his arm jump as hers came into his, but it didn't register that he was watching her, slightly amused, she was too involved in what was happening on screen. The music was gone, making it that much more eerie. She cringed with each swing. Suddenly, it pierced the man's skin and the scream he let out was disgusting and animalistic and it made Taylor yelp and, out of reflex, tuck her head into Chad's chest.

She felt his chest vibrate with laughter as he leaned down, his lips brushing her hair, "Not a fan of scary movies?" She felt his breathe in her ear and suddenly she wasn't disoriented by the disgusting scene playing on the screen, but by him. Dammit, it was so wrong that that was all it took.

"They're ok," she said breathlessly, and he laughed again, taking her lack of air as her being scarred. She pulled away from him, pushing herself gently from his chest. She moved her hair self consciously behind her ear.

"Sorry," she said quietly, turning back to the screen.

"Don't be," he said quietly, her whole body shivered as she fought the urge to just kiss him right there. The sexual tension between them was a little too intense for her at the moment.

For the next half hour Taylor forced her eyes on a grueling movie. She had never seen so much blood and intestines in her life. She grabbed onto Chad's wrist and arm at least two dozen times. A few times she ever heard him whisper under his breath, "Ow." In those cases she apologized immediately and let go.

She was closing her eyes, trying not to listen to the sound of the poor girl's eyes being gouged. She decided to focus on other sounds around her instead. It didn't take long for her to locate some soft moans. It sounded like someone around her, or on the screen was having a naughty good time. She peeled her hands off her face, thinking it was coming from the movie. Maybe they had taken a break from the violence for a dirty sex scene. Instead the noise came again from next to her. She looked to her left to see Troy and Gabriella. Gabriella was almost straddling Troy, showing no shame in the fact that they were in a public place. The soft moans had been coming from both Gabriella and Troy, they both seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely. Taylor saw Troy slip his hand under Gabriella's shirt, then she looked away really fast and leaned towards Chad, whispering to him, "Is this seriously happening right now."

"I know right?" he answered without looking away from the screen, "The plot is totally twisted."

She hit his arm lightly with the back of her hand to get his attention, "No, I'm talking about them!" she whispered hoarsely, motioning toward the other two, who were seriously enjoying themselves.

He glanced over Taylors head in Troy and Gabriella's direction. "Are they serious?" he asked, his getting wide as he started laughing, the lady in front of them hoarsely shhhh'ed Chad and Taylor glared at the woman.

"Ya, I'm pretty sure they are serious. And I'm going to kill her. DO YOU HEAR THAT? I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Chad reached over, took some popcorn out of the bag, and tossed it at them. It landed perfectly in Gabriella's hair, but it didn't even faze them. They just kept going. Taylor giggled, getting another harsh shhh. She took some popcorn and tossed it herself, it landed right by Chad's. She laughed again and they high fived. They continued tossing until Gabriella's head was almost full of popcorn. It was amazing that she hadn't noticed. Troy must have been working some magic. Taylor and Chad were trying hard to contain their laughter. The woman in front of them turned around and said, "Seriously, this isn't a funny movie, shut the fuck up," and turned around again. This just made them laugh even harder. Chad almost lost it when Taylor dumped half the bag on the woman in front of them and she got up and moved across the theatre. A few moments later, Troy had finally taken his hands out of Gabriella's shirt and went to run them through her hair. Naturally that didn't work to well. He broke apart from Gabriella and looked in her hair.

"Brie," he said quietly, "why do you have popcorn all through your hair?"

"What?" she said, surprised as she flipped her hair in front of her shoulder, causing popcorn to fly all over her and Troy, Chad and Taylor, and the lady in front of them. Taylor could barely contain herself and leaned into Chad for the second time, that night, her back in his chest as she watched Troy pick all the kernels out of Gabriella's hair like a monkey. Chad's big hands naturally slid around her waist. It just seemed right between the two of them.

Troy shot a glare at the two of them together, "Really guys? Be mature."

This just made the two of them laugh even harder. It was obnoxious now and a half a dozen people were turning around and staring at them. Taylor had tears streaming down her face and she was shaking due to how hard Chad was laughing while holding her. The woman that had moved stood up from across the theatre, "I'm not kidding," she said, he voice rising into a scream, "SHUT THE FUCK UP" the whole theatre erupted into applause at the woman. Chad and Taylor had been oblivious that they were being that loud. Even so, Taylor chest pumped towards the woman's back, making threatening gestures. Chad laughed, tucking his head in her neck to trying to keep from being loud.

"Ya guys," Troy said, glaring again, "shut up."

Chad laughed again, a deep throaty laugh as his arms tightened around Taylor's waist. He laughed had naturally faded into a frequented giggle and a smile. She then realized what position she was in. Chad's hands were around her waist, she was backed up into him, if he moved his mouth an eighth of an inch he could plant a kiss on the side of her neck. She had felt him laugh through his chest, and his hot breathe caressed her neck, making her shiver.

He seemed to notice how they were sitting at that point too. Her body was pressed to his, and when he breathed in, all he could smell was her shampoo. He closed his eyes, enjoying it one more second before she pulled away again. But she didn't pull away, and when he realized this, he wanted to see how far she would take it. He tightened his grip on her waist, spinning her slowly around to face him. Those big eyes staring at him intensely were enough to make his heart start pounding in his chest. A rush of cold nerves seemed to travel from his chest down his arms and to his fingertips. He couldn't help himself then. His hands went up her arms, her shoulders, her neck. He cupped her face in his hands, bringing her lips close to his. His lips were burning to touch hers, his whole body was drawing him towards her. His fingers ran through her hair as he brought her beautiful full lipped mouth towards his own. Their bodies pressed together first, making him start to sweat. He wondered if she could feel his heart beating out of his chest. His lips went down, he could feel her breathe caressing his lips as they closed the gap. Taylor's body then pressed into him harder, so much that he was pushed back. His head and his body didn't comprehend this movement at first, he searched for an answer.

The answer? Troy and Gabriella. They had migrated closer to them, and Troy had been trying to lay Gabriella down on the seats, not realizing where they were anymore, he backed Gabriella up into Taylor, flinging Taylor into Chad with an , "Oomph."  
"Sorry," Gabriella mumbled hurriedly as she pushed Troy the other way, not missing a beat as they layed down in the other direction.

Taylor's mouth hung open in shock of the two things that just occurred.

"Did that just…" she asked, pointing her thumb in Troy Gabriella's direction.

Chad let out a sigh as he ran a hand through his hair, "Ya, pretty sure that just happened."

She wished she could read him better. She found herself wondering if he was disappointed that they didn't kiss, or that they almost did. Why did they keep getting themselves into this situation? Why did she totally lose perspective of her whole existence when he was within a ten foot radius of her? She took a deep steadying breathe as the credits started to roll and the lights in the theatre came on. The brighter lights seemed to sober up Troy and Gabriella slightly. Enough for them to pause their own show and stand up before they scarred too many people's lives. They adjusted their wrinkled clothing and looked over and Taylor and Chad.

"Good movie, right?" Troy said, trying to play off the fact that he hadn't just made out with Gabriella for two hours straight.

"Ya," Chad replied, "What was your favorite part?" he asked with a smirk that made Taylor's heart beat faster.

Troy ignored him as he took Gabriella's hand and they all walked out together. The fresh air helped clear Taylors head. She was glad that she would get some time on the ride home with Gabriella to sort things out. At this point she figured she had two guys in her life. One that she called her boyfriend, and one that she was so utterly drawn to it was impossible to stay away any longer. She seemed confused when Troy started walking to Gabriella's car with her. She started that way too until she felt someone grab her elbow lightly, "I'm pretty sure they are leaving us," Chad whispered in Taylor's ear. Did he realize what just his voice did to her? She felt her knees shake as she focused hard as staying on her feet and turning towards him, "Guess it's just you and me then?"

Chad looked over her head towards Troy and Gabriella, "Looks that way. Come on, I'll give you a ride."

Taylor took a deep breath, gathering her self control as she followed Chad through the still wet parking lot towards his car. "Which one is yours?" Taylor asked, glancing from car to car in the lot.

"This one," Chad answered, unlocking a huge, red Toyota truck. It was bad enough, Taylor thought, that he was so much taller than her, but it seemed she could use his truck as a house. However, it made him seem that much sexier when he stood by it, opening her door.

"Thanks," She said, looking into his deep brown eyes as she got in. Tonight had been really…nice. That was the only way she could describe it. Every time she was with him she enjoyed herself. He was incredibly genuine, funny, and the way he looked at her made her go weak. It seemed like he was trying to figure her out, to crack the code that would release all of the secrets of Taylor McKessie. And she didn't understand why he would want to know, no one had ever cared enough. But he did. And as he stared back, meeting her gaze, she could no longer deny what was going on between them.

He seemed to sense it too as he shut her door, and walked slowly around to his side. As she watched his face, he seemed to be deep in thought. His eyebrows furrowed and his bottom lip puckered slightly. She wondered if she would ever be able to tell him how much he took her breath away just by doing that.

He slid into his seat and turned the car on in silence. She watched him. She watched how he seemed to be concentrating on backing out the huge car, but his eyes also seemed lost, like he was still concentrating on something. She wondered if he would ever say it, or if she would be stuck staring at him, trying to crack the code like he always seemed to be doing with her. As he drove through the parking lot and into the street, she couldn't take it anymore.

"Could you please let me in on what you are thinking so hard about?" she begged, "You're driving me crazy over here."

A small smile crept onto his face and he shot a small glance her way before his eyes went back on the road, "Funny, I usually feel like saying that to you."

"You're being very cryptic right now," she said matter of factly.

"I'm just…" he trailed off, frustrated, weighing his words carefully. She felt the urge to reach out, to comfort him. To help him with whatever was going through his head. She had never just wanted to be in the presence of someone so much before. She couldn't help it, she reached out and bushed his forearm.  
"Chad, tell me."

He let out a deep sigh, "What are we, Taylor?"

She couldn't help the shocked look that crossed her face, though she tried to muffle it. She didn't want him to get the wrong idea about her reaction. She had been thinking the same thing all night. She saw him panic slightly.

"I mean, " he said hurriedly as he stopped at a red light, "You have to feel it too, there is no way you don't. When I'm with you, I'm just drawn to you. I want to be closer to you. I care about what you are thinking, how you are feeling. I want to know where you came from, what made you who you are today. I just imagine what it would be like to kiss you and seeing you tonight…you make me crazy sometimes," he ran his hand through his hair, she could see how frustrated he was with himself for saying this much, "And I'm sorry if me saying this freaks you out or turns you off. Because I know you have a boyfriend but," he paused, the frustration with the situation growing, "God, Taylor, I know I could be better for you than him. I know it."  
Taylor's mouth hung open slightly. He breathe had been caught in her chest for the past ten seconds. Her limbs were starting to tingle due to the lack of oxygen being carried to them. It didn't help that he heart was about to break through her ribs from beating so hard. If he hadn't been driving, she would have reached over and kissed him right there. And as he self consciously looked away and began to drive again, it just made the urge stronger. She had never had a man who admitted to caring so much for her. She had had boyfriends, she had had really good guy friends. She had even gone through the friends with benefits stage. She had never felt this way for any guy, and she knew it. She knew in her heart that staying away from him was impossible. Cody was nothing compared to Chad. He didn't care about her, he didn't like being around her. He was just obsessed about keeping tabs on her. And when she really thought about it, she didn't like him either. Why was she doing this to herself? The guy she needed to be with was sitting there, pouring his heart out a foot beside her and she was stuck in a relationship with a douche bag who didn't deserve her.

Gabriella had been right, everything she said had been right. Chad was right there, why hadn't she done anything about it? Why was she still with Cody? She had this all wrong. She had to rub her burning hands together. God, why did they burn whenever she was around him.

"Look," he said, breaking the silence Taylor hadn't realized was there, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said all that."

Taylor turned to him, smiling slightly, "Tell me, do you always apologize for things you shouldn't?"

He glanced over at her then and saw her face, it seemed to calm him. A small smile grew on his face as he pulled into a spot in her parking complex, got around and opened her door. He reached out, and for the first time, she took his hand. She realized his hands were burning, just like hers did. But then, they stopped. And she finally realized, as he walked her up to her door. Her hands had finally stopped burning because, they were where they belonged, interlocked with his.

They held hands the whole way up to her door, an unspoken peace between them. She knew what she was going to do. It seemed so obvious now. She was seeing Cody tomorrow anyway. She didn't think she could go one more day without kissing Chad. She unlocked her door and opened it. She looked up at Chad, "I'll talk to you tomorrow ok?"

He smiled down at her, "I'll be waiting."

She reached up on her tippy toes, even though she was already in heels, and kissed his cheek. Her lips lingered there for a few seconds, then she pulled away, looking into his eyes and squeezing his hand. His hand reached up the caress the spot where her lips had been and he smiled down at her, "Goodnight, Taylor."

And for the second time, he left with a wink.


	7. Is it over yet? Can I open my eyes?

_I'm Talking in circles.__  
__I'm lying they know it.__  
__Why won't this just stop go away___

_Is it over yet?__  
__Can I open my eyes?__  
__Is this as hard as it gets?__  
__Is this what it feels like to really cry?__  
_

Rain was slapping the roof of Taylor's apartment as she slowly stirred the next day. She could almost smell the rain as she kept her eyes closed and snuggled further under the covers; she could certainly hear it. It's amazing how slowly reality creeps back to you when you're subconscious is so much more suitable. She had had a dream that she was just laying there, in Chad's arms, all night. His firm muscles had enclosed her to his perfect chest. They had just lay there, talking, whispering, laughing. He had moved her hair out of the way and tucked it behind her ears as he listened and interjected and made her laugh. She could hear his laugh echoing in her thoughts. It was so deep and throaty and…sexy. She loved it, the air of confidence that swam through the undertone of the sound. She could smell his musky cologne, reminding her of a desert after a thunderstorm. Through the rest of the dreamless night she had sworn she was sleeping in his arms. As she rubbed her arms she could still feel where his hands had been, holding her. She felt safe then, like just the faint remnence of a dream-like presence of him was enough to shield her. She sighed, her eyes fluttering before opening and taking in the morning. The room was still dim, dark enough to go back to sleep, letting the rain lull her into unconscious, but a couple years of morning practice had coerced her into early bird syndrome. There were no windows in her quaint bedroom, but her door was open, cascading morning light from outside, welcoming her to the day.

She sat up, scratching her hair which had turned into a very attractive mane. Her cardinal tank stop with an S on it was wrinkled and twisted in every direction and her spandex had ridden up in the night. She reached her arms up and extended them as far as she could, stretching her tired muscles. With a groan she swung her legs around so they dangled off the side of her bed. She pointed her toes down, stretching those too, letting the joints crack and stretch like the rest of her. She noted that Gabriella would have pointed out (amused) that her feet didn't touch the ground when she did so. It wasn't her fault that her six foot four dad had decided to marry a woman that was four foot nine and Taylor, a dainty five feet, was the end result.

She let her mind wander to last night, wrapping her head around the whole situation. The movies, the woman in front of her, the awkward almost kisses that she seemed to keep getting herself into. She remembered the way that Chad had acted, made her laugh…the way he smelled. She shivered slightly at the memory. She also thought about the scary movie she had gotten herself into, and how she didn't even watch it thanks to Troy and Gabriella. Troy and Gabriella…

Troy and Gabriella. She had to know how the night went. She had gone to bed before Gabriella came home last night. She hopped off her oversized king bed, raised a couple feet off the floor, wobbling the first few tired steps before catching her stride. She made her way slowly across the small apartment, dragging her fingertips along the wall of the small hallway leading into her best friend's room until she reached the door.

"Hey, G?" she said, knocking softly. No answer. Just the ringing you get in your ears from silence surrounding you.

"Gabriella?" she said a little louder, cracking the door open. Still hearing nothing, she opened it all the way. Gabriella's bed was made just like it had been the morning before. Each pillow perfectly placed next to each other. Each wrinkle pushed away, leaving a smooth satin surface on her comforter. She let her eyes scan the rest of the room. Her dresser drawers were closed, immaculately placed beauty products were on display on top. Her closet door was not open, revealing her wardrobe, so she obviously wasn't getting dressed for the day. She cocked her head to the side, listening for Gabriella in the kitchen, maybe she had missed her on her way by. Nope, silence. She tip toed out of the room, walking across back to her side of the apartment. The bathroom door was also open, and when she investigated; everything in place as she had left it. She hadn't come home. Worried, Taylor turned and walked quickly back to her room. What if something had happened? She began to pace, horrid images hatching themselves in her brain. She wrung her hands together as she traced her small room several times. It had probably been raining all night, the roads were wet, it was cold, maybe some ice had been on them. Newspaper clippings of a young Stanford honor student killed on the icy roads on Paradise Ln. She had tried to call her best friend for help but she wouldn't pick up, she was too busy sleeping while her friend was busy bleeding to death. She died with her phone in her hand, thumb on the speed dial key 8. Oh gosh, she pulled her phone off the charger when the thought hit her like she had walked right into it.

She had driven back to Troy's apartment last night. And from the looks of things, they had been having a really good time last night. What if she had stayed there? What if things had continued on like that for the rest of the evening?…the rest of the night…and into the early morning. What if Gabriella Montez…had sexual intercourse!?

The realization sent Taylor into a whole new frenzy of emotion. First relief at the fact that her best friend most likely had survived the night not only safe, but getting it on. Next, Taylor was giddy and jumping up and down as she pressed the seven key on her phone and started calling Gabriella. It took a few rings but finally the groggy girl picked up her phone.

"Hel-lo?" she stuttered, yawning loudly over the receiver.

"Gabriella Montez, spending the night in Troy Bolton's room doing the nasty!" she couldn't help herself…honestly. A filter was just not something Taylor McKessie was born with.

If Taylor could have seen Gabriella, she would be blushing. She had never thought of herself as the kind of girl who would wake up to be wrapped up, no clothing, in some boy's sheets. That just wasn't her. It wasn't something she thought would happen outside of the movies. But here she was, warm and snug, and totally in love. She couldn't even be embarrassed by her actions last night and the fact that it was total PDA and probably a little gross to the surrounding audience. She was however, not surprised that her best friend had picked up on it. Although she couldn't help but giggle at the thought of the small panic attack she must have had when she first realized she hadn't come home last night. Light and airy feeling, she couldn't help but jokingly answer, "Troy's room?" feigning surprise, "What are you talking about? I slept in Chad's bed."

Taylor pulled her ear away as Gabriella laughed at her own joke, "Ha ha very funny, I take it he isn't in the room."

Gabriella sighed lightly, looking out towards the door frame, she wished he was in bed, holding her right now, "No, I remember him saying something about coffee, but I fell back asleep." She played with a corner of the sheet and she tucked her phone in between her ear and her shoulder.

"You do realize you are going to come home and tell me all about it, I can smell the sex on you from here," Taylor was beaming, she couldn't wait to be filled in on every detail. Gabriella owed her that. She always told every part of her sexcapades.

"I'll be home in about an hour, swear." She answered, glancing at the alarm clock to see the time.

"I'm counting the minutes you slut."

Gabriella glanced up when she heard the sound of shuffling steps coming into the room. Her heart jumped out of her chest with excitement, "He's coming back, goodbye." She hung up the phone and set it down just as Troy was walking into the room, two cups of coffee in hand.

"Were you just on the phone?" he asked as he set them down on the night stand, moving back onto the bed, on top of Gabriella and kissing her neck lightly.

"Yes," she giggled, "It was just Taylor."

He continued to kiss her neck, moving down ever so slightly as he rubbed her shoulders gently. She closed her eyes, enjoying his touch as he said between kisses, "I bet she was worried when you didn't come home last night."

She threaded her fingers in his messy hair, "She is a smart girl, she figured it out."

He mumbled something she didn't quite understand, but she didn't care. All she noticed now was the fact that he was sliding the bed sheet down and kissing further down to her chest.

"Mmm," she whispered soothingly, "Troy…"

"Hmm?" he asked, lingering there for a few moments before moving his mouth now back up to her jaw. She giggled and cupped his face gently in her hands, moving her lips to his and kissing him, "I love you." She whispered, her lips resting against his soft ones.

He smiled, kissing her quickly before flipping her over, so she lay resting on top of him. He kissed her more fully that time, "I love you, too Gabriella. You're so incredible. And beautiful. And spectacular," he continued on with the romantic adjectives as he kissed down her neck again and she laughed, trying to roll away from him. His fingers gripped her waist and held her there and she soon gave in, leaning her head down and kissing him again. This time, they didn't stop.

After the phone line went dead, Taylor laughed and closed her phone, walking back out to her living room and setting her phone down on the coffee table. Finally her little Gabriella was no longer a virgin. She should have expected it after the way they were all over each other last night.

Practically skipping, she made her way to the linen closet, grabbed a towel, and then went back into her room. She rummaged through the drawers for some clothes. She found dark skinny jeans, a Nike dry fit STANFORD GYMNASTICS white t shirt, and a loose black vest. She smiled to herself, chic, yet casual.

She heard three sharp knocks from her door and lulled over to it. It was Cody; she had almost forgotten she was going to breakfast with him today.

She opened the door, "Good morning," she said politely.

To anyone that didn't know him, he would look alarming. His muscles were the size of Taylors thighs, which, considering her muscles from gymnastics, hers weren't all that small. His shoulders were incredibly broad, something that had attracted him to Taylor. She loved broad shoulders, it gave her something to cling to while… she pushed that out of her mind, blaming Gabriella for the gutter.

His body, however, looked slightly awkward when his waist seemed to pinch him around the middle. His hair was a sandy blonde, but his eyes in contrast were dark, and Taylor noted that in comparison to Chad's deep, thoughtful eyes, his looked dead and empty. His face which had so much potential to be gorgeous, were upset by those eyes and the way his face looked awkward when he smiled. Taylor had never examined him more than she had in those few seconds and she found herself wondering what she had seen in him.

"Morning, "he mumbled back, giving her a kiss which she didn't return as he walked in. He didn't seem to notice. He also didn't seem to notice that she was just in her pajamas. Was he always this unobservant? She found herself unable to remember. She walked over to him; he was making his way to her couch.

"Hey, Cody, I'm just going to—"

He leaned in and kissed her. They had kissed many times, obviously, and Taylor had always found it enjoyable, even sensual. But now, it felt all wrong. His lips were forcing it, going to hard for just a morning kiss. She felt his tongue on her lips and she pulled herself away, pushing against his chest, raking in oxygen as she tried to finish her sentence.

"Like I was saying—"

"I missed you," he interrupted again. That was weird. He never said things like that.

"What?" She asked, confused.

"I missed you, we haven't done anything in a while, I missed it."

At first Taylor was taken aback, flattered. Her lips pulled up into a smile as she thought maybe he had potential, he had missed spending time with her, he had been looking forward to this simple breakfast/study date. But when the back of his hand went slowly sliding down her arm and his other hand tried to bring her towards his chest again, she had realized her hadn't meant that he missed just "hanging out" like she had thought.

She pulled away for the second time, "That's nice, but like I was saying, I have to take a quick shower, and then we can leave ok?" Before she could give him a chance to grab onto her again, she started walking, clothes in hand to the shower. It was hard not to let his immature and insincere remarks affect her. She felt so dirty whenever he said anything of that fashion. The worst part was that she let him say them. She felt so disgusted with herself. She walked quicker, clenching her fists tightly around her clothes. A lump started to rise in her throat, how could she just let herself be treated like that. She didn't deserve Chad; she was too weak to be with someone who held themselves up with such dignity. Letting Cody treat her that way was disrespecting herself and she didn't deserve someone like Chad in her life at all. Tears were almost spilling over her eye lids when she heard his voice behind her.

"Want company?" he asked

"Nope," she answered, her voice, angry, was staggering, "I've been taking showers by myself for a while now, around seventeen years, I don't need help anymore." And with that, she slammed the door behind her.

Cody fumed, his ego hurt. She couldn't just talk to him like that. No one could. His dark, dead eyes flashed in quick spurts around the room. It was just the two of them home. He knew what that meant, action. He gave himself a mental high five as he sat down on her couch. That was really the only reason he kept Taylor around anyway. She was a good fuck; excellent actually. He knew he could get it whenever he wanted. Taylor was his. Even when she really didn't seem to want to, he knew he could make her. He often did it for just that reason, to assure himself that he still had her, she was still his. He would definitely be getting some after her shower; she needed to know that she couldn't just talk to him like that. He contemplated just busting into the shower and doing it with her there. Sure she would be mad at first, put up a few complaints, but come on, who could deny that she didn't want it once they were doing it.

He seemed to like that idea; he stood up and began to walk towards the bathroom door. Her phone vibrated loudly from the wood coffee table. He glanced down, who was texting her this early? He retraced his steps, grabbing the phone from the table and flipping it open. The inbox read one unread message. He punched the button to go to it. It read:

From: Chad is a stud ; )

I had a lot of fun last night.

I think I have bruises from you

holding onto me so hard.

What. The. Fuck. He clutched the phone so hard he thought he might break the screen. Anger pulsed through him like it was in the thick of his blood. Who did she think she was? Fucking another guy behind his back; did she think he wouldn't find out? Did she think that she could play it like that? That bitch needed to be punished. And who was this ass hole? She was _his._ Not this douche bag's. He threw her phone against the wall, pieces flying everywhere. His dark eyes narrowed until he was peering through slits. His vision was blurred he was so drunk with his own rage. His hands clenched and unclenched, his veins bulging out of his biceps. So the dumb bitch thought she could just play him. Just use him. Well, he would show her. She would know who was in charge in this relationship. He would make sure she never forgot. His hands clenched into fists again. He started pacing, his anger not allowing him to stay still. He growled and glared at the bathroom door, his feet hitting the floor heavily as he pounded through her living room. He would let her know that she couldn't walk all over him, and then he would fuck her. She needed to remember who she belonged to. Him; only him.

He had been listening for it, so he turned right when he heard the door knob twitch. Out she walked. Strutting like she owned the world. She looked at him, not registering the danger in his eyes. Her mouth rounded to form words but not before he came charging at her.

"You dumb bitch, who the fuck do you think you are," he said calmly. Too calmly. His tone stopped her in her tracks, her eyes widened. She hadn't been expecting that.

"Excuse me?" she asked, to anyone logical her voice would have come out squeaky and unassuming. But to him, so blinded by his own rage and self absorbance, only saw cocky attitude. Adrenaline flowed as he grew even angrier. So she was going to be a condescending little bitch about it? Fine, he would just hurt her more.

"You think you can just go around," he voice began to raise, he started to wave his hands around, more animated. She had never seen his eyes look so empty with hate, "fucking other guys behind my back? You think I wouldn't find out? You think you could just walk around having sex like the dumb slut you are with any guy, and not tell me?"

"Cody," she said, holding her hands out in surrender, "I honestly don't know what you're talking about."

"You don't know what I'm talking about? YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M FUCKING TALKING ABOUT!? DO YOU THINK I'M A FUCKING IDIOT? I READ YOUR TEXT MESSAGES, I SAW WHAT YOU WERE SAYING TO THAT FUCKER!"

Her eyes widened in fear and utter confusion, "Cody, what texts? I never had sex with anyone else while we've been dating. I swear."

She started foreword, trying to show him that she was sincere. However, his body, looking ten times larger as he charged forward, eyes darting around dangerously, made her shrink back in fear.

"You lying piece of shit." He said quietly, but loud enough for it to pierce her ears. "You're lying, you're lying to my fucking face. And the worst part is, I should have known. I always knew you were just a dumb slut. I could tell by the way you just let me fuck you. The way I could have you where ever I wanted. You're so easy, so fucking easy I should have known all it would take was another guy to look your way for you to spread your legs."

It was her turn to get angry, her face was hot with humiliation. He couldn't just talk to her like that. She was better than this. She was better than this situation. She didn't deserved to get screamed at for something she didn't do. And even if she did, she didn't deserve to be screamed at like this. She was through letting him walk all over, she was through letting him use her. She was through with him. She stalked foreword, finger pointed at him, "Look here. I have never had sex with anyone while we were together. And how _dare_ you fucking say those things about me. And you cannot just come into my place, say whatever the fuck you want to me like I am just some piece of trash you kick around. I am NOT just some dumb slut who you can fuck whenever. In fact, there will be no more FUCKING with you ever, because I never want to see you again. Get out."

He surprised her then. He had done a lot of things in their relationship. He had courted her, hurt her emotionally, disgusted her, made her hate herself, but he had never surprised her. He started to laugh. A low chuckle, patronizing. On the waves of his laughter rode something dangerous, something that made her neck hairs try to crawl down her back. He started coming towards her slowly. His hands reaching out, "You can't just break up with me, " he said softly, condescendingly, "You're mine."

The way he said that made her shiver, she was not his to take, to claim. Yet, as he kept coming forward he seemed convinced otherwise. "No, I'm going to pretend you didn't say that, and we can just get on with this. I'll teach you not to go off and fuck someone else." He started to grab her. She pushed him away with all her strength. She wasn't weak, she could hold her own. He stumbled back a few steps, surprised that she interceded. "You stay away from me," she said, warning in her voice. She began to realize the situation, and how much trouble she could possibly be in.

It all happened so fast. Next thing she knew, the room was rushing back from her. Everything blurred away from her as her spine crashed against her wall. The shock of the push had her neck flying back. A loud dead sounding thud echoed through the room as her head flew back and connected, solid, with the old painted over brick. Her jaw snapped shut from the force of the blow, her teeth shaking in her mouth from the impact. She felt something heavy pressing against her mercilessly. Her vision blurred then from her head, black rings started to form along the room. Everything was out of focus. The black ring started to grow, coming closer into the center. The shadow of a face came into what view she had left around the black and her heart started pumping quickly with fear. She gave in, letting the shadow overtake the rest of her sight. She felt nothing then. It was calm, she could no longer feel the grip he had on her, the wrong way her body was being pressed against the wall. Her head wasn't pounding anymore. She felt calm, and she welcomed it. Anything was better than that blinding fear waiting for her on the surface.

The peacefulness ended all too soon. Adrenaline quickly shot through her veins, and it all started to come back. She tasted first. She tasted blood in her mouth. She didn't know why. She didn't think she had been hit. She then came conscious enough to realize it was from her head, pounding so incredibly hard she could taste the blood rushing to where she had hit it. That was when she realized she could feel. She could feel her head and that pain was enough to send her swimming back into darkness, but she could tell the adrenaline was starting to numb that. But she could still feel _him_. She felt his huge body pressed to tightly to hers. She thought that was why she couldn't breathe. She expanded her lungs to find that that wasn't the problem, the problem was his huge hand clasped around her neck. His fingers were pressing so hard against her flesh that she was sure there were going to be bruises. Her eyes fluttered then as her sight came back, but she couldn't have picked a worse sight to open her eyes to. She saw Cody's dark eyes staring into hers. His face was distorted with anger, aggression, and she had never feared for her safety more than now. She wondered how she was going to make it out of this. Her breath came out in short, scared spurts as she looked into the eyes of what only could be described as a monster. She wondered then what he would do to her; if she would be able to fight back. She mentally prepared herself to duck and run at first chance. His fingers, still laced around her neck, tightened ever so slightly, cutting off the last of her air.

"I'll show you, who you belong to. You _will_ learn not to talk to me like that," His hands tightened even more, thinking back on what she had said to him. She tried to rake in air, but it just came out as empty gasps. Her throat caught the oxygen as soon as it reached it, denying her body what she needed. Panic started to set in, her heart rate increased, causing her blood to pump the oxygen faster. She knew it was only a matter of time before she suffocated. His finger prodded uncomfortably into her jaw, she would have made a sound if she could gather up enough air to. He kept speaking to her, his mouth forming words, but Taylor couldn't comprehend. Her brain wasn't working right. She then couldn't even hear him, his mouth was just moving blindly. Her eye lids were so heavy, she just wanted to close them, to sleep. Giving up seemed so easy. Besides, she couldn't do anything anyway, she was trapped. Her body was starting to tingle from not having any oxygen. But another part of her held on, held on so tight. She closed her eyes and the other half of her struggled to open them. When she did she was met, once again, by Cody's black eyes. She watched as his face grew even more dark, he raised his hand back, the palm facing away from her. He drew it back quickly, and she closed her eyes again, bracing herself for a blow that was sure to knock her out if she didn't pass out before. She knew how strong he was, if not by his appearance, then by the way he was holding her right now, pinned to the wall. Her vision started to fade again, spots this time instead of the black ring. She was relieved, hoping she would fade into the darkness before she would feel him hit her.

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER!"

The voice came from directly behind Cody. Taylor noted that it didn't fit the scene, but it didn't seem to matter. She was calm, the scene now totally black before her eyes. She wondered if he would let go of her neck after he hit her, or would he just kill her. She sensed that that would come soon anyway. It was peaceful, dark seemed nice after having a crazy boyfriend spit in your face and strangle you. She heard the sound of fist connecting with flesh, but it didn't make sense. Weren't you supposed to feel it before hear it hit you? She must really be on the edge. She scolded herself for complaining. Maybe the oxygen had stopped flowing and she couldn't feel anymore? Did that happen?

The yelling continued, but she was confused, why was Cody yelling? Why was he yelling at himself? Then a scream ensued the screaming; Taylor tried to figure out if it had come from her or not. Maybe she had screamed when he hit her, had he hit her? She couldn't tell, she was numb. She tried to open her eyes but her body didn't recognize the command, she tried to move her arms, but she was denied that movement as well. Her hearing was becoming sharper now, though she still couldn't comprehend what they were saying, or who was saying them.

"Dude, fuck off I didn't hit her."

"Leave before I call the cops."

"I didn't fucking hit her."

"I swear to God if I hear you ever touch her again I'll kill you."

A door slammed in the distance, Taylor recognized that. That was good, comprehension was a plus. She heard something drop down next to her, she realized then that she must not be being held by Cody anymore. She tried to assess the situation, but with the lack of senses it was hard. She was just there, listening to what was going on, but not conscious enough to move or feel. It was a strange out of body experience.

"Oh, gosh," came a voice next to her, a girls voice. "Troy…Troy I don't think she is awake. Oh God, Taylor…Taylor can you hear me? Open your eyes please. Troy what do we do?" The girls voice sounded panicked, and it seemed she was on the verge of hysterics. Taylor wanted to open her eyes and comfort her, but she couldn't find her hands.

"I—I don't know Gabby…shit."

Troy? Why was Troy here? She then realized her surroundings further, the voice she had heard yelling was Troy's. And the girl next to her was Gabriella. They had come in while Cody was holding her against the wall, they had stopped him. Relief washed over her as her eyes fluttered.

"Oh! Look, I think she is coming to," Gabriella's voice perked up significantly and Taylor felt her friends hands shaking her shoulders slightly, then grasping her hand.

Her eyes fluttered open, the bright light of the room making her blink a few times. In the first few seconds she began to asses her surroundings. She realized first that she was on the floor, splayed out in an awkward position. She then realized that she was breathing, and her hand went up to clutch her throat where Cody had just been grasping her. She must have slid down the wall when he let go of her. But why had he let go of her? She blinked four times before around more. She saw Troy first, since he was right above her, his eyes were hard with anger and for a second she saw Cody's eyes staring at her, it scared her all over again. She had to remind herself that it was Troy, he was there to help her. A weird noise seemed to be playing in the background. Something was wailing. It was so loud it was shaking her, and she wished whatever it was would stop.  
"Tay, oh, Taylor it's ok, he is gone, it's alright." Taylor's eyes finally connected with Gabriella, who was leaning above her. She realized then that the wailing sound was coming from her, she was sobbing uncontrollably. It shook her rib cage with the force of her cries.

Troy crouched down next to Gabriella, "I think she is going into shock." He reached his hand, sliding it under her back and Taylor cringed away, covering her face to shield it from him. She was horrified, she didn't want to get hurt again. Why were they so close to her?

"Taylor, Taylor," he said firmly, she tried to take her hands away from her face but the tears were coming so hard she couldn't, "Taylor it's just me, Troy. I'm not going to hurt you, I'm just going to help sit you up. She felt his hand on her back again and this time she didn't fight him. He sat her up, keeping his hand there to steady her until he felt confident she wouldn't fall back.

Her head pounded.

"What do we do?" Gabriella asked Troy as Taylor sat there, still bawling. She tried to get control of herself. She realized now that she was safe. She felt bad for cringing away from Troy, but she was just so relieved she couldn't help but cry. It was over, Cody was gone, replaced by Troy and Gabriella, and he wasn't going to hurt her today. He wasn't going to get to her. She was breathing again, she knew that by the way her lungs kept expanding to spill more tears out. She felt her neck, the skin around there felt tender, she knew it must look bad.

"I just don't know. I don't know whether or not I should call 911, I think she is just hysterical. I think she will be ok, but I'm worried about her head. I'm going to call Chad."

"N—no," Taylor protested, she didn't want Chad to see her like this. But it was too late, Troy was already walking into the other room to dial.

"Chad needs to be here, T," Gabriella said reassuringly. Taylor shook her head, but stopped when it hurt too bad.

"He would want to be here for you. Besides…we don't know if…Cody will come back," she seemed to be choosing her words carefully, as to not upset Taylor, "If he does, it would be best to have two of them here."

Fear overtook Taylor again, sending a new wave of tears down her cheeks. Gabriella apologized for saying that. And soon Troy was back in the room next to her also. She didn't know how long she cried, or really what she was crying for, but she let the tears fall until the front of her head pounded with a headache just as bad as the back. She cried until she was dehydrated and shuddering and too exhausted to panic anymore. Her friends were quiet for a while after she was. Troy was the first to talk.

"Look, Tay…we should really get you up and into your room or something. Can you stand?"

Taylor did a quick overview of herself. "I—I don't know," her voice came out hoarse, she coughed which made the back of her head pound harder. "Ow." She ran her hands through her hair to the back of her head. There was a decent sized bump on the back of her skull. "I have a bump on my head…and my throat is kind of raw…but I think I'm ok." She looked up, grimacing through the pain it caused, Troy looked worried still, troubled.

They both stared at Taylor for a long time, but Gabriella was the first to ask what they were both thinking, "Tay, what happened?"

Taylor began to open her mouth but Troy interrupted, "Before she starts talking we should probably get her off the ground, preferably into her bed. Taylor, can you stand?" Troy repeated, he was seriously concerned about her. He was so lucky that they came in at the right time, just in time to see him with his dirty hands around her neck about to hit her. He was angry just thinking about it. He knew there was something wrong about him when he met him. He didn't know a guy that could ever do that to a girl, especially someone as unassuming as Taylor. Knowing her, he knew she was feisty, but anyone else walking down the street would just see a petite young woman.

"Ya, almost positive I can stand," she replied. She took the hand he offered her and he pulled her up. She felt a little dizzy at first so she stood still for a second, gathering herself before slowly walking. She took a few steps, gathering confidence. She started to pick up the pace and suddenly the ceiling was getting farther and farther away. Expecting to hit the floor, arms caught her a few feet before. Troy dragged Taylor up, "How hard did you hit your head?" he asked, worry leaking from his lips.

"Not that hard," Taylor said, suddenly feeling dizzy again, remembering the way her head had smashed against the hard wall.

"I'll get you an ice pack," Troy said, "And I'll call Chad and see where he is," he rushed out of the room, already pressing 8 on his key pad to call his best friend.

Taylor sighed, "I wish he wouldn't."

"Don't be ridiculous, Taylor," Gabriella interjected, glaring; "You have no idea how it looked when we came in. You almost gave me a heart attack. And you didn't look good the first couple minutes you were just sitting there. You still don't look all that great. I'm sorry, If I had just been here this morning—"

"Shh, don't even put this on yourself, he is crazy. This was going to happen eventually."

Before Taylor could scold Gabriella anymore for feeling guilty about being happy with Troy, Troy himself came bustling into the room, ice pack in hand. He handed it to Taylor, and she placed it on the back of her head, trying not to cringe too much for her friends sake. She seemed to have failed when she saw the worried looks they exchanged with each other. Trying to keep the attention off of her, she turned to Troy, "Please tell me he is calm."

"He is probably driving one hundred to get here right now. He is a little freaked."

"Tay," Gabriella peeped, "Please tell us what happened."

Taylor sighed, "Well, I don't really know what came of it…" she trailed off, "but I'll tell you what I was around for."

She explained everything to them. From when she came out of the bathroom to what she vaguely remembered when she was pressed against the wall. She found that part was a bit fuzzy. Troy suggested it was probably because her body was in shock and she was running out of air; both probable explanations. She edited a little of what he said to her, a lot actually. She knew Gabriella realized this when she couldn't meet her eyes as she explained what he had yelled at her. She did, however, appreciate Gabriella's enthusiasm when she told the part where she told Cody to get the fuck out, it made her feel better too. She didn't feel totally helpless, she hadn't just crumpled with fear under him.

All three of them sat there, legs crossed; Taylor against her bed post, leaning with her hand holding the ice pack against her head, and Troy and Gabriella, sitting close together, hand in hand. They kept talking to her, asking her random questions, keeping her involved in the conversation. She assumed they thought she might have a concussion. She was pretty sure that wasn't the case. Her vision wasn't blurry anymore, the adrenaline had worn off and she felt sort of tired. Mostly, though, she was just scared. Scared at what had almost happened, what did happen, and what could happen. She kept going back to what Troy had said; he might come back. What if he did come back? What would she do? She started to get panicky, this wasn't good for her. She focused more on the conversation at hand, hoping that would help. She was sure though that the worst was over, she wasn't going to break down again.

She heard a loud thumping at the door and her heart rate shot up in panic thinking it was him. Troy was the voice of reason, "It's probably Chad." Nevertheless, he got up by himself and opened the door.

A few moments later, Chad walked in. Taylor looked up, his face was creased with worry as he got one look at her. His hand clenched in what she could only guess was anger, worry, and frustration. She sighed; she wished people would just settle down. His deep mysterious eyes look angelic in comparison to Cody's and they were staring straight into hers. She got the impression, once again, that he was trying to unravel her soul. Despite the situation, despite the anxiety she was feeling and her pounding head and sore neck, she couldn't help but smile when he looked at her. When he saw her smile his own emerged crookedly from his face, but his eyes still held the same apprehension they had moments before.

Gabriella got up quickly off the bed, gave Chad a quick hello, and walked out, giving Taylor and him some privacy. He walked over to the foot of the bed before Taylor managed to say, "I'm fine, really," she patted the bed for him to sit down on it. He did quickly, as if he had just been waiting for an invitation.

"Are you sure?" He asked, his body was in close proximity to hers, she liked it.

"Yes, I'm sure. Did Troy tell you everything?"

His eyes grew dark quickly, anger flashing in them, "Yes. I swear if I eve—"

She interrupted him, "I said I was fine."

He shook his head, "Taylor he could have—"

"Yes…but he didn't. So…"

"It doesn't matter his intentions were—"

"Chad." She said absolutely, "I am ok, I'm alive. Please stop worrying about me." She smiled and ran her hand softly down the side of his face. He caught her hand in his, turning his head slightly and kissing her palm with his soft lips. The feeling that ran from her hand to her heart was something she couldn't describe, only experience. He kept his hand with hers, locking their fingers together.

His smile reached his eyes now, but he still replied, "I can't help it."

Taylor couldn't help but sigh, "Well please try. It's bad enough that Gabriella is going to be sleeping in my room with one eye open for a week, and I'm pretty sure would be sleeping on the couch if I let him. I don't need you worrying about me too, I am fine. I swear."

A gentle smile curved around his features, complementing his already gorgeous face. Taylor wondered if he realized that he inhibited her ability to breathe when he looked at her like that. She bet he did. He did it on purpose.

"Taylor, you are something else. Troy and Gabs come in there and find you pinned to a wall," he struggled to get through the sentence calmly, "about to be—really hurt by—him," he practically spat the reference to Cody out, like he wanted it off his tongue as soon as possible, "and you are begging them not to be worried?" He moved closer to her, keep her hand in his, "Of course we are going to be worried," he ran his free hand down her face, tracing the curve of her jaw with his finger tips. She melted under his touch and tried desperately to keep her face and breathing composed. She failed, but he took it as her being scared by what had happened, not by what he was doing.

"It's ok, you know," he said giving her a stern look, "I won't let him near you. He won't hurt you again."

She smiled sadly; he was so handsome, so amazing. How had she ever even considered someone else? But he was wrong, he couldn't protect her. And if she was being honest with herself, that scared her. "You can't protect me 24/7, Chad, though I know you would like to. I am going to have to face him sometime."

He shook his head, frustrated with her response. His fingers absentmindedly threaded through her hair. He moved his mouth for form words as his fingers ran through her locks softly until his hand grazed over her bump. His whole body stiffened when he felt it. His face grew rigid and his jaw tight, his mouth forgot the words and remembered new ones.

"Did he do this to you?" he asked tensely. He leaned back, really examining her for the first time. His eyes took in the sight of her neck, something she hadn't seen, and they grew incredibly sad and angry. He traced a finger softly over what she could only guess were forming bruises.

She remained silent, a lump rising in her throat thinking back on what had happened; he didn't need a direct answer.

He shook his head slowly back and forth, "How could anyone…how could he…to you…what were you doing with this guy?" So many different emotions were running through his face it was hard to keep track of them all. But when he asked her what she was doing with him, he looked so disgusted, so incredibly revolted that she was the type of girl that would be with a guy like that. And when he asked it, she felt so ashamed; so appalled at herself. She suddenly felt dirty, and not good enough to be around Chad. The room got hot, and her face burned with humiliation. She tried so hard, so determined not to, but she couldn't help it; she started to cry.

Not just watery eyes, a single tear streaming down her cheek. No, Taylor started to bawl. She couldn't tell if it was because of everything. How Cody had talked to her, how she had let him walk all over her, the way he looked at her like she was his property; the way he had touched her, pushed her around and she couldn't do anything to stop it, or if it was just the way Chad was staring at her, so taken aback by her actions, probably thinking how she was so not the girl he thought she was, not the girl he wanted to be with. No matter the reason, tears poured out of her eyes like a shower, and she hid her face from him, covering it with her hands. She didn't want him to look at her.

"Oh, God," Chad said, panic in his voice. His stomach dropped, what did he do? He hadn't meant for her to react like that. Why were girls so emotional!? Maybe she was just realizing what had all happened, what she had gone through. Maybe it was what he said. He didn't know, he was so clueless, but he didn't like seeing her cry, it had to be one of the worst things he had ever seen. He reached out to touch her but recoiled, he wasn't sure if she was mad at him, if she wanted him to touch her.

"God, I'm so sorry," he almost pleaded, "Please, Taylor…please stop…dammit I'm sorry."

God, he wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms and hold her, to kiss the tears away and make this whole morning just go away. But he was so scared to touch her, like she was going to bite him. He clenched his hands together so he wouldn't, she had been through a lot today, violated by someone; he didn't want to cross that line so soon after.

"No, no," she finally said, and part of him was relieved she was speaking, anything was better than the sound of her sobbing, "I'm so sorry. I don't know why I was with him," she was holding her hands out in disbelief of herself, "I don't know what I was thinking. I'm so…so sorry. You must be so _disgusted, _" she chocked out the word, "God I'm such an _idiot,_" her voice cracking as more tears started to run down her face, "I'm so disgusting. How could I have just let him walk all over me? And the things he said to me today…" she started to cry even harder, which made Chad so angry that she was crying because of something that guy had said to her. How could anyone have mistreated someone so incredibly beautiful inside and out, someone who seemed in this moment so fragile? "…he was right! I am just some disgusting good for nothing slut—"

"Stop it." Chad said, "Stop it right now." He grabbed her shoulders, shaking her ever so slightly, "Taylor, look at me." When she wouldn't uncover her face he took her hands in his and slowly pulled them away. "Taylor, listen to me, please. I don't care what he said to you, or what you did with him. I don't care, I don't care about any of it; you know why? Because I know you, and I can tell you right now I have never met a girl so good, so strong, even if she doesn't know it," he said smiling at her, her eyes finally meeting his, "and if he for one second thinks that you are any of those things that he said to you, then it is so obvious to me that he didn't take the five seconds it took me when you stood at the front door, after going psycho on four three other people that day, " he laughed at the memory, "to realize that you are so amazing, so incredible, and that I would be the stupidest man on earth to not somehow get you into my life." He leaned his face lower, making sure he was eye level with her, "Do you understand me? Don't ever for one second think those things about yourself, because I have never heard anything more ridiculous."

Her shoulders shook with her tears as she finally controlled herself. "Why are you being like this?" she asked, looking at him, "So…good…so nice. I don't really understand. You just met me."

She expected him to be offended, but he actually let out a small chuckle and smiled to himself, "I don't really know, to be honest. It surprises me too." He met her eyes then and laughed quietly once more. He reached out, almost timid, pausing before her touched her to give her time to recoil. When she didn't, he wiped her tears away with his fingers, "But please stop crying, and I meant every word of what I said."

"I'm sorry," she said quickly, wiping the tears away as fast as she could, "It's just…this whole thing is so surreal right now and I'm trying not to freak out but sometimes I can't help it. And what if he does come back? What do I do? How could I have let this happen, you know? And what if…" she kept babbling, her nervous habit. Chad sat there patiently, listening with a look of concern. After a few moments though his mind was wondering how she was still thinking of words to say, hadn't she said everything? He smiled then, a look of amusement, "Taylor…Taylor…it's ok to be scared," he chuckled, "But don't worry, nothing is going to happen to you."

As much as she wanted to believe him, she felt vulnerable and scared; her hands shook with the memory.

"I'd love to believe you, Chad," she said closing her eyes and running her hands over her face, rubbing her tired eyes, "but you can't guarantee me that. You can't be here forever just watching me."

He smiled then, and she wondered why. His smile was so unbelievable. It was like you just wanted to be happy with him.

"Well I know that, but I will be here tonight."

"What?" Taylor asked, confused.

"Troy and I already talked about it. There is no way we are leaving you girls here alone tonight. We would bring you to our place, but we want you guys to be…comfortable. So we are staying here in case he comes back," Chad's voice turned dark at the end of the sentence and Taylor found her heart beating faster just thinking of the chance that he could. He seemed to read the stress in her eyes but thought of it as a different reason, "I know things are…different between us and it's…not weird…or awkward…just…ya. But don't worry, I'm sleeping on the couch."

Taylor laughed a little, "That's not what I'm worried about."

He studied her face, searching for the answer before concluding, "You can't be worried that something will happen to you with us here?"

Taylor grimaced at the thought, "I—I just don't know. I really" her voice shook, "don't want him to come in here…and…if something happened to you or Troy—"

"Taylor don't be ridiculous. What do you take us for," he puffed out his chest slightly. "He may be big, but I'm faster and…I'm pretty sure I could take him alone if I was mad enough…which I have reason to be. But with me and Troy…it's easy. Don't even worry about it."

She tried to show how relieved she was, but he didn't buy it. Chad sighed, offered her his hand. She took it and instantly felt better, like her just being in contact with him was enough to keep her safe forever. She was still confused about the whole sleep over situation. She hadn't had a sleep over since sophomore year…and never with a guy. I mean guys had slept over but…you get it. This was going to be weird…right?

She walked out hand in hand with Chad into the living room. Gabriella was curled up on the couch giggling. Taylor looked up to see Troy, a pillow in one hand and a teddy bear in the other. He was grinning up to his ears as he said, "Ready for our slumber partyyyyyyyy!!!??? We're going to play board games, and watch musicals, and have pillow fights in our underwear!"

Yep…definitely going to be weird.


End file.
